AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards Records Unprecedented Participation Across Key Journalism Categories

The AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards says most entries were received for Best Front Page (83), Hard News (78) and Human Interest (71). 

The judging is currently underway, and is being handled by 20 professionals, says the awards. 

According to the awards, the judges are Dr André Gouws — Convener of judges, Alé Steyn, Buks Viljoen, Chantel Erfort Manuel, DeWet Potgieter, Elsabe Retief, Johann Maarman, Kyle Cowan, Lucia Poolman, Marlene Malan, Mercy Kannemeyer, Nomakhawuta Mo, Pieter Delport, Thalyta Swanepoel, Tobie van den Bergh, Virginia Keppler, Willem Kempen Zee Zenande, Yolanda van der Stoep and Mlungizi Louw.

"The Avbob FCJ Excellence Awards are a personal highlight of the year for me as convener of the judging panel. I always look forward with great anticipation to the year's entries, to see what community newspapers around South Africa are doing," says Gouws. 

"Adjudicators happily offer their time and expertise because of their deep love for community journalism. Community journalism has become even more important in South Africa since the closure of several national and regional print newspapers in 2024.  We have a very strong panel of adjudicators, who are all journalism experts. Some are academics, and some are current or former journalists. This mix of people brings a variety of perspectives to our panel, which ensures that judging will be impartial and fair," Gouws adds.

The AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards concludes that judging will be completed by the end of June, and finalists will be announced early in July. The gala evening, where the winners will be honoured, will be hosted in Stellenbosch on Friday, 22 August.

For more information, visit www.fcjonline.co.za. 

*Image courtesy of contributor