The National Press Club in Pretoria has awarded Charlize Theron its Newsmaker of the Year title for 2004.
Theron is the first African to win a best-actress Oscar award. The Benoni beauty received the Oscar for her lead role in Monster.
Press club chairperson Ben Rootman said the Olympics swimming relay team and the 2010 Soccer World Cup bid were also strong contenders for the title.
”However, the media impact of Theron’s award was tremendous. Apart from appearing on the front page of Time Magazine — a rare achievement for a film star — she was seen and quoted extensively on both electronic and print media internationally, and her media profile during her visit to South Africa, after receiving the award, was tremendous.
”Apart from umpteen appearances on local television and radio shows and in the printed press, Beeld and Pretoria News, for example, published special editions to mark her Oscar Award.”
Rootman added that besides the Oscar, she was the first South African to win a Golden Globe Award and in the words of President Mbeki was ”proof that South Africa as a nation can produce the best in the world”.
The club planned to present the award to her at a ceremony in South Africa.
Previous recipients include former presidents Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, Zackie Achmat and the Treatment Action Campaign, the South African Air Force, the national rugby team and former cricket captain, the late Hansie Cronje. – Sapa