The National Press Club is calling all members to enter the annual National Press Club-North West University Journalist of the Year competition.
Thousands of rands are up for grabs and an exciting new category, Editor of the Year, have been introduced this year. Chairperson, Yusuf Abramjee said: “The club reintroduced the journalism awards last year so that we can encourage excellent journalism and communication and reward excellence. They were extremely popular last year and we expect even more entries this year.”
“The panel of judges will comprise of various independent experts and academics,” said Abramjee. “We appeal to journalists, photographers, presenters, producers and MLO’s to enter the competition.”
“The awards for 2010 will be presented at the annual Newsmaker of the Year function,” said Abramjee.
The competition will consist of 11 categories. In the print section: News, Features, and Photography and in Electronic media section: Radio news, Radio in-depth features, TV news, TV in-depth features, TV cameraperson and Online media.
Journalist can nominate their Editor of the Year. The winner in this category will receive a weekend break. “We are looking for an editor who is professional, efficient, and bold and someone who displays outstanding leadership and excellence,” said Abramjee. Jos Charle, deputy chairperson and an executive editor at Pretoria News added: “it must be an editorial leader who has also acted in a fearless, innovative manner and brought vitality to the industry”. There will also be again be a category for Media Liaison officers to enter (they can also be nominated). “For the MLO of the Year we are looking at outstanding communication skills, accessibility, helpfulness and the like,” said Press Club PRO, Tanya de Vente-Bijker.
The executive committee will choose the winner in the MLO of the Year and the Editor of the Year categories.
In every category the winner will receive a cash prize sponsored by the North-West University. From the nine categories (excluding the media liaison officer and editor of the categories) an overall winner will be selected.
The National Press Club � North-West University overall Journalist of the Year will win a cash prize of R10 000 sponsored by the North-West University. “We are delighted that the university has come on board as a partner. It is a yet another indication of their commitment to recognizing excellence.”
The guidelines and the rules of the competition will be circulated to all newsrooms shortly.
