At the most recent Vodacom Journalist of the Year (VJOY ) regional awards ceremony, journalists from JOHANNESBURG-Eyewitness News left with three awards.
Over 1,300 entries from 12 different regions were submitted for the Vodacom Journalist of the Year competition this year.
The Gauteng leg of the national competition was held at Melrose Arch, where the awards were presented.
The Nandipha Magudumana and Thabo Bester saga was covered by reporter Kgomotso Modise, who also won an innovation award for her work on the Twitter spaces Above the Law: The Senzo Meyiwa Trial.
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” To be able to help South Africa through the stories we tell is such an honor. It is a much-needed affirmation that the hours we put in are not in vain that we are recognized by this award. Above the Law: The Senzo Meyiwa Trial to be recognized in the Innovation category was our most recent project, the Twitter spaces and podcast, according to Modise.
Modise is no stranger to Vodacom Journalist of the Year honors, having won one last year for her reporting on the Rosettenville shootout between police and cash-in-transit robbers and the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial.
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Zongile Nhlapo, an online sub-editor for Eyewitness News, won the Opinion category for her insightful article,” Motherhood is n’t defined by my ‘non-verbal’ son calling me mom.”
I’m very appreciative that this notable recognition came months after a personal account that was written at the time with the main goal of attempting to provide an alternative perspective on motherhood, according to Nhlapho. I’m hoping that Mnqobi, who served as the piece’s inspiration, will one day be fully verbal and be able to read it aloud to us, but more importantly, I want him to know that his entrance into our lives has changed us for the better and that it has permanently altered who I am as a mother and person.
Nhlapho’s award was given out by Mapi Mhlangu, the judging panel convener, who described it as “powerful, heartfelt, and an entry that stood head and shoulders above the rest.”
Sbu Ngalwa, the editor-in-chief of Eyewitness News, congratulated the two and said their success was a sign of the newsroom’s talent.
“Kgomotso and Zongile have my utmost admiration. They are two journalists of the highest caliber. Kgomotso was honored for reporting for two years in a row because of her unmatched coverage of the courts. Few people can match the razor-sharpness of Zongile’s pen. Ngalwa expressed her desire to share more of her ideas and insights with our online audience as a result of the award.