Mail & Guardian business reporter Lloyd Gedye was named a joint winner in the category for new journalists at the 2006 Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year award ceremony, held on Tuesday evening at The Castle in Kyalami. He shares the award with Business Report‘s Thabiso Mochiko.
M&G Online publisher Matthew Buckland also received a special mention for his writing in The Media magazine.
Financial Mail associate editor Duncan McLeod walked away with the evening’s top prize, becoming the sixth overall winner of the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year award.
“Duncan’s entry showed a level of depth and insight that was unparalleled in the other entrants. The work displayed a unique blend of critical thinking and technical knowledge that made it a clear winner,” said awards judge Vincent Maher, of Rhodes University.
McLeod’s prize includes R40 000 cash and a seven-day trip to Hong Kong to attend the International Telecommunication Union conference.
Winners of other categories received a cash prize of R15 000. The winner of the newly introduced student category received a cash prize of R10 000 and a bursary to study further at any South African tertiary institution.
Gedye said he is grateful for the recognition but paid tribute to the influence of his colleagues on the M&G business desk. “We have a dynamic business team at the M&G who have assisted my development as a journalist and who also deserve credit for this award.”
The award was launched by Telkom and the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) in 2000, and the competition aims to develop and nurture an interest in information and communication technology (ICT) in the media.
“Over the past six years the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year awards has established itself as a meaningful, sought-after accolade in the field of journalism where developments in the ICT industry are not only reported accurately, but interpreted, commented upon and given meaning in their impact on society,” said Lulu Letlape, Telkom group executive of corporate communications, in a statement. “ICT journalists are the ‘connectors’ between people and the technology that improves our lives.”
Category winners and runners-up
- Electronic: joint winners: Belinda Anderson (Moneyweb) and Warwick Ashford (ITWeb)
- Electronic: runner-up: Ana Monteiro (Moneyweb)
- Broadcast television: winner: Siki Mgabadeli (South African Broadcasting Corporation TV)
- Broadcast television: runner-up: Sumitra Nydoo (SABC3)
- Mainstream newspaper: winner: Gugulakhe Masango (Business Report)
- Mainstream newspaper: runner-Up: Lesley Stones (Business Day)
- Business magazine: winner: Duncan McLeod (Financial Mail)
- Business magazine: runner-up: Larry Claasen (Financial Mail)
- Business magazine: special mention: Matthew Buckland (The Media) and Nicola Mawson (Engineering News)
- New journalist: joint winners: Lloyd Gedye (M&G) and Thabiso Mochiko (Business Report)
- New journalist: runner-up: Shoks Mzolo (I-Net Bridge)
- Broadcast radio: winner: Belinda Anderson (Moneyweb)
- Broadcast radio: runner-up: Tshepo Ikaneng (SABC Radio)
- Lifestyle magazine: winner: Patricia McCracken (Caxton Magazines)
- Lifestyle magazine: joint runners-up: Anthony Doman (Popular Mechanics) and Alan Duggan (Popular Mechanics)
- Community newspaper: winner: Ryan Noik (Sandton Chronicle)
- Student category: winner: Peter McMahon (University of Cape Town)
- Student category: runner-up: Catherine Murray (Rhodes University)
- Student category: special mention: Bate Felix Tabi Tabe (University of the Witwatersrand)
“Good work was done in print, but those journalists using ICTs like TV and the web can do a lot better in regard to use of their specific media to tell the ICT story. It is a story that needs to be told not only to specialists, but also to ordinary people,” commented awards judge Professor Guy Berger, of Rhodes University.
Co-judge Maher agreed: “For me, what was most noticeable was the dramatic difference in quality and depth of the stories between the online-only publications and traditional media publications. I find it quite disturbing that digital publications seem to be setting their journalistic standards much lower.”
Previous winners include accomplished journalists such as Patricia McCracken writing for Bona magazine in 2004, David Shapshak writing for the M&G and GQ in 2002, Marina Bidoli writing for Financial Mail in 2001 and Nathi Sukazi writing for Business Report in 2000.