By Mpho Phatudi
Johannesburg - The GCIS celebrated the national winners of the SADC Media Awards 2022 at a gala dinner in Sandton, where the 2023 SADC Media Awards competition was also launched.
Three national winners in the categories print, television and photography were selected to go through to the regional competition, leading to a first prize in the photography category for Sunday Times photojournalist Sandile Ndlovu.
The SADC Media Awards were established in 1996 to recognise excellence in journalism that promotes regional integration and cross-border co-operation in the Southern African Development Community.
Sandile Ndlovu’s Beach Story, created for Sunday Times Online, was chosen as the national winner in the category and went on to earn him the SADC Award and a $2 500 cash prize. Ndlovu’s was one of two South African entries in this category.
The photographs he submitted were taken at the 2021 Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship in Durban, where teams across the SADC region competed. South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, Seychelles and Comoros were all represented.
“Mozambique eventually won the title with a 3-1 victory over Tanzania in the final, and the tournament provided many thrilling moments that I was able to capture on camera and that shows teamwork and healthy competition between the participating countries,” says Ndlovu, who has been a photojournalist for various media houses for the last 21 years after starting at the Sunday Tribune in 2001.
As the keynote speaker at the event, Minister in the Presidency Mr Mondli Gungubele commended the winners and highlighted the importance of telling the good-news stories that positively contribute to regional integration across Africa.
“The manner in which we portray our region becomes even more important given the social and economic challenges it faces. Through media we can disseminate information that empowers and changes lives,” he said.
“To the winners: you have done our country proud and shown the spirit needed to take our region forward by your active participation.”
In the TV category, Zinhle Makhosazana Dlamini-Mugabe’s Special Assignment piece Twilight People, created for SABC, was chosen from three entries as the National Winner. The story focused on the educational injustice that denies undocumented children of migrants attendance at public schools in South Africa because they do not have birth certificates.
“The piece follows the case of an undocumented mother’s battle for citizenship and admission to the local school for her South African-born children. It highlights the complexities faced by immigrants who try for years to secure education, and a future, for their children,” says Dlamini-Mugabe, who is the executive producer at SABC’s Cutting Edge and the author of a book, “Before Her Innocence Was Removed: Life after the Rwandan Genocide”.
The print category was the most fiercely contested with 11 South African entries, and the NAC selected Melinda Shaw as the national winner for the piece A Foothold In The Desert from Poultry Bulletin magazine. Shaw, the Managing Director of Shaw Media, is a communications professional with a background in magazine journalism and PR, and is also the editor of Poultry Bulletin, the official magazine of the South African Poultry Association.
Says Shaw, “The poultry industry globally is key to food security, as it produces the most affordable, most accessible animal protein. It is the largest single contributor to South Africa’s agricultural sector, and an essential job creator. With this article we highlighted the cross-border collaboration between the South African and Namibian poultry industries and how the support of the South African industry and in particular the South African Poultry Association has enabled growth in the newer, smaller Namibian industry. It argues for closer regional collaboration across South African Customs Union (SACU) nations to promote regional integration and facilitate a positive trade environment and growth for the agricultural industries across the region.”
The SADC Media Awards are open annually to journalists from the SADC member states in the photo, print, radio and television categories, and national winners are selected by the National Adjudication Committee (NAC), through the National Media Coordinator. The national winners are then submitted to the Regional Adjudication Committee (RAC) through the SADC Secretariat. The first prize winner in each category receives $2 500 and the runner-up receives $1 000. Journalists who wish to enter the 2023 Awards can find out more information about the competition at www.sadc.int or www.gcis.gov.za. “We encourage South African journalists to enter the SADC Media Awards 2023, and tell the stories of our region,” says Minister Gungubele.