Kudos for Independent
More feathers in our cap at International News Media Association Global Awards
INDEPENDENT Media has done it again, receiving three awards at the prestigious International News Media Association (Inma) Global Media Awards held in New York at the weekend.
The company took first prize in the category: “Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand” for our regional and national high school quiz, which involves creating a platform for teenagers to compete against one another.
Spurred on by the highly successful Cape Argus Schools Quiz, Independent Media’s events division repacked the concept and rolled it out to schools in Gauteng and KZN. The competition kept the youth engaged in current affairs via our newspapers.
Independent Media also walked away with the Global Media Award for “Best In Africa”, where judges selected the best of six world regions from the finalists.
African Community Media chief executive Sandy Naudé received the “Silver Shovel Award” alongside Pit Gottschalk of Fever Pit’ch in Germany for their lifetime service to the news industry and to Inma events. Naude has been an Inma member since 2003. She joined its board of directors in 2015 and helped organise the Inma conference in South Africa in 2016.
On receiving her prestigious award, Naude thanked Independent Media’s executive chairman Dr Iqbal Survé, who accompanied the group, for his commitment to ensuring employees from the organisation are given platforms where they can thrive and excel.
This was not the first victory for Independent Media at theInmaA Global Media Awards. In 2016, the Cape Argus’s #FeesMustFall initiative came second in the category for “Best Idea to Encourage Print Readership or Engagement”.
South Africa’s largest daily vernacular newspaper, Isolezwe, came third in the category for “Best Use of Mobile” for its soccer game Asidladle while Independent Media’s MOJO (mobile journalism) project came third for the “Best Use of Social Media”.
In 2017, the group scooped first prize in the category: “Best Community Service Campaign” for the “Racism Stops With Me Campaign” and was placed second in the “Best New Print Product” and “Best Use of Video” for the Independent Home magazine and the “Don’t Look Away” video series for 16 Days of Activism.
Lance Witten, executive producer for the African News Agency, earned a surprise feather in his cap for his lively tweets during the congress. For his efforts, Witten was invited by Inma chief executive Earl Wilkson to attend the 90th Inma Congress in Paris next year. |