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Some of the Limpopo Mirror staff proudly display the certificate the newspaper won for their top-three finish in the category Small Independent Established Newspapers (older than five years) during the annual MDDA-Sanlam Local Media Awards. From left to right are Phathutshedzo Luvhengo, Kaizer Nengovhela, Wikus Lee (editor) and Tshifhiwa Mukwevho.

Top 3 finish for Zoutnet

Date: 30 May 2014 By: Andries van Zyl

The Zoutnet group of newspapers, the Zoutpansberger and her sister publication, the Limpopo Mirror,  showed once again that they can hold their own against the best the community and local press industry has to offer.

The past weekend saw the fourth annual MDDA-Sanlam Local Media Awards taking place at the Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre in Boksburg on Friday. The aim of the awards ceremony is to recognise excellence in community media (including print, radio and television), small commercial (print) and local media owned by the mainstream media (print). This initiative unites more than 22 years of Sanlam Community Newspaper Awards and four years of SABC News/MDDA Community Media Awards into one big event. “The credible work done by the local media has had far-reaching effects on the awards ... We are grateful to the dedicated team of judges who have had the mammoth responsibility of identifying the most outstanding work in writing and broadcasting from very diverse community media across the country,” said Ainsley Moos, head of Sanlam Group Communication.

Receiving a record 750 entries this year, the judging panel was pleased with the remarkable increase in print entries. In the newspaper category, the Limpopo Mirror did exceptionally well, finishing as a top-three finalist in the category for Small Independent Established Newspapers (older than five years). The other two finalists were Grocott’s Mail and Franschhoek Tatler. About these three, the judges remarked: “They were well presented, consistent and with a good balance of colour that encourages readers to keep reading.” The overall winner was Grocott’s Mail from Grahamstown, the oldest independent newspaper in South Africa, with the first edition appearing on 11 May 1870.

The Zoutpansberger’s news editor, Andries van Zyl, for the first time ever also managed to secure a top-10 finish in the highly contested Journalist of the Year category. The overall winner in this category was Zita Goldswain from the Witbank News. Andries’s colleague, Isabel Venter, also impressed in the photography section, boasting a top-10 finish in the Features and Portraits category.

The Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror were not the only independent Limpopo-based newspapers to do well. The Post from Bela-Bela also has reason to be proud, with their photographer, Herman Steyn, scooping up the prestigious Press Photographer of the Year award. In addition to this, he also won the Features and Portraits category. The Post, Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror are all members of the LIN Media group for independent newspapers in Limpopo. Other member publications are the Limpopo Beat (Bela-Bela), Bulletin (Tzaneen), Noordelike Nuus (Mokopane), Kruger2Canyon (Hoedspruit) and Die Kwêvoël (Thabazimbi).

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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