Five reporters from the Mail & Guardian have won print feature awards in the regional Vodacom Journalist of the Year competition.
The regional winners will now compete in the national finals, which will take place on October 9.
M&G reporters Niren Tolsi, Yolandi Groenewald, Surika van Schalkwyk and Sello Alcock won for their the feature The Future of Farming.
“For the story that started with a simple question by the features editor, and which led to finding answers across the length and breadth of our country after an audit revealed a dearth of skills in the farming sector, with South Africa being short of more than 400Â 000 farmers and farm workers, these journalists delivered an incisive feature which struck a balance between the hard economic realities of where our country’s food will come from,” said a statement from Dlamini Weil Communications.
The M&G‘s Sam Sole also won in the print feature category in KwaZulu-Natal for his Smoke, sex and the arms deal article.
The Star‘s Beauregard Tromp won the print news category for his Burning Man xenophobia reportage.
“The winner in this category stands out for his story which showed South Africa’s “Afrophobia” — indeed, the underbelly of our society, recording a nightmare period in our recent history, with the journalist staying on the story to tell it to its bitter end, despite personal trauma,” said the statement.
The overall winner in October will receive R125Â 000 in cash and R125Â 000 will be donated to a charity of their choice.