Data journalism takes top prize in revamped awards

MULTI-PLATFORM

The winning series of print stories, photographs and video focuses on the wellbeing of students or lack thereof in university residences across the Eastern Cape. It showed the sheer desperation of students living in appalling squalid conditions. Our winner looks at more than one institution and uses print and video effectively to report on the lives of these students. He uses multi-platform to highlight different parts of the story with little repetition. He takes us along so that we experience the students’ fight for better living conditions – protesting in the rain and even clashing with heavily armed police. The winner is Sino Majangaza from Tiso Blackstar.

OPINION

Our nominees brought forward quality writing and are some of the best public influencers in the media industry. Our winner exemplified the best in opinion writing, reflecting on his growing-up years and watching soccer for the first time and linking this to the violence at Moses Mabhida stadium involving Kaizer Chiefs’ fans. The winner is Matthew Savides from Tiso Blackstar.

FINANCIAL/ECONOMICS

In this category, the judges looked for in-depth features and investigations which combined excellent story telling with illuminating insights. The winner succeeded in putting a human face on economic events, interwoven with incisive economic analysis and context. The winner is Lisa Steyn for her piece published by Mail & Guardian.

INVESTIGATIVE

Mining in SA grew and still relies on the prowess of the less educated labourers who leave their rural homes to work in this industry. Many a time, they either go back home broken or in coffins, leaving their families destitute. This is despite the fact that pension deductions would have been made to which they or their families would be entitled. The companies however outsource this to Teba which claims it cannot trace the workers or their families. Our winner set out to test whether indeed the beneficiaries of the over R4 billion that was lying in the Teba bank account could not be traced. And he found thousands of them, leading to Teba using his information to trace and pay beneficiaries. The individual amounts paid out may not be millions, but investigative journalism has made it possible for the poorest of the poor to access what is rightfully theirs, and in the process removed the screen behind which Teba had been hiding. The impact of the stories went beyond the Eastern Cape. The winner is Bongani Fuzile from Daily Dispatch.

Click here to see who won the Young Journalist and Lifetime Achiever awards.

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