It was local print media’s opportunity to shine on Friday June 23 at the FCJ Excellence Awards for local media.
At the event, held at Leriba Hotel and Spa in Centurion, local and community newspapers from all over the country, big or small, corporate owned or not, were honoured for work produced in 2016.
Among those recognised for their achievements was Bulletin reporter Karen Watkins who made it into the top 10 of two reporting categories – human interest and journalist of the year.
In the judges’ report they state the following: “On the whole the standard of this year’s photography entries in the various categories was of a high standard with the judges especially impressed with the sport category submissions.”
“As for the writing
categories, overall the judges were impressed by what local media journalists
present to their communities. The paid newspapers offer great value for money to their readers. The free newspapers are delightful bonuses. The local media
is clearly in the forefront of informing (and entertaining) the communities they serve.”
The Bulletin’s sister papers also celebrated some wins in the competition: former Southern Suburbs Tatler reporter, John Harvey (who now writes for Sentinel News), came in second place in the investigative reporting category; Summer Jacobs achieved third place in the human interest category, while Tabletalk, the paper she writes for, achieved third place in the best newspapers category for corporate-owned papers. Athlone News reporter, Hazel Allies-Husselman, was a finalist in the hard news reporting category, while Plainsman reporter Kaylynn Palm was finalists in the journalist of the year category.
“While the opinion that means most to us is that of the audiences we serve, it’s always great to be acknowledged by our peers, and I’m incredibly proud of all our staff who made it to the finals of the awards,” said CCN editor, Chantel Erfort.
