The Mail & Guardian raked in the accolades at the 2011 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards for the northern and southern regions on Tuesday.
The M&G scored well in the online journalism and print journalism categories, and also received a merit mention for work done by an M&G intern.
Here’s a list of the M&G‘s winners:
- 2011 Online journalism winners
How Shangaan went electronic and then global
Lauren Clifford-Holmes
Lloyd Gedye
Paul Botes
Reporter Lloyd Gedye, accompanied by the M&G‘s online multimedia editor Lauren Clifford-Holmes and M&G chief photographer Paul Botes, went in search of the legends of Shangaan electro as it began taking the music genre to places it had never been before. The package was covered with videos of the fathers of Shangaan electro, as well as the Chiawelo dance competition in Soweto.
- 2011 Print: Feature winner
Radovan Krejcir: The mobster at the gates
Sam Sole
Stefaans Brümmer
Ilham Rawoot
The M&G‘s centre for investigative journalism amaBhungane has ceaselessly followed the investigation into strip-club kingpin Lolly Jackson’s death in May 2010. From the shooting to following leads on his alleged killer(s), amaBhungane has chased the stories that eventually led to the investigation of Czechoslovakian fugitive Rajovan Krejcir.
- 2011 Editors Choice winners
Lionel Faull
Faull was selected by M&G editor-in-chief Nic Dawes as the company’s most promising young journalist. This automatically includes him in the running for the prestigious 2011 Vodacom Journalist of the Year award. Faull has been commended for his work since he was an intern at the M&G last year through to his current position at the amaBhungane centre. His work on the Tara KLamp resulted in the uncovering of facts that the sole distributor of the device in South Africa had links to Mandrax smuggling, is a fugitive from justice in his native Zambia, and had links to influential KwaZulu-Natal figures. His work on the Trifecta kickback scandal resulted in the fining of ANC MP Yolanda Botha of her 30 days’ salary — the maximum penalty — for not disclosing her interests. Faull also broke the story about Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s interests in prime South African assets. Faull’s coverage of the ANC’s Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association’s multimillion-rand Gupta mining deal revealed the association’s treasurer general also personally benefited from the deal. The package consisted of a graphic tracking the matter and feature .
- Merit mentions by the judging panel
Ayanda Sitole: Locals have Soweto sewn up and I want my kids to be righteous and Rasta
Sitole started with the M&G as an intern in the beginning of 2011 and has managed to build up an impressive portfolio of work. She has been recognised for two of her pieces, one of which was the lead in the M&G‘s Friday section, and the other a news feature on Rastafarians.