GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - Group Editors raked in nine top accolades at the Avbob Forum for Community Journalists Excellence Awards 2022 at the Cape Sun in Cape Town on Friday evening, 4 August.
The highly sought-after national FCJ Excellence Awards rewards the very best of journalism, photography and design at community newspapers countrywide. At 527, the individual entries had doubled from last year.
Blake Linder, news editor of Knysna-Plett Herald, and journalist Kristy Kolberg of George Herald each scooped a first place - Kolberg was named best headline writer in the country, while Linder took the top spot in the sport writer category. Hugo Redelinghuys, editor of South Cape Forum, took second place in the sport writer category and his sport photographs were highly commended.
Best paper
Adding to Linder's individual first prize, Knysna-Plett Herald was named the country's best newspaper in the sold category for community newspapers with a circulation under 5 000. Knysna-Plett Herald came third in the best front page category, and credit also goes to Periëtte Nel.
George Herald, under the leadership of editor Lizette da Silva, was awarded a fabulous third place in this category.
Columns and digital
Eugene Gunning of George Herald bagged third place in this challenging, creative category.
Alet Engelbrecht, previously of Mossel Bay Advertiser, and Jannie du Plessis, also of the Advertiser, were both nominated in the best digital reporter category. Engelbrecht, who resigned at the end of July, was awarded second place for her excellent video and digital skills and achieved fourth spot in the column writing category.
Servaas De Kock smiles
Group Editors operations director Servaas de Kock is extremely proud of his team. "Walking away with numerous accolades is incredibly heartwarming. I feel immense pride in our individual winners, yet I am fully aware that this achievement is a team effort. Thank you for all the hard work behind the scenes in creating our excellent printed and digital products. It is great to see that we are bench-marking against the finest local media brands in the country."
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