1 December 2023
Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn show their Journalist of the Year awards won jointly with Jeff Wicks from News24. Photo supplied
The 2023 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards were held in Johannesburg on Thursday night.
The main award was shared by Jeff Wicks of News24, and Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn of GroundUp.
Vodacom stated: “News24’s Jeff Wicks won for his body of work in pursuit of justice for Babita Deokaran, the civil-servant whistle-blower brutally murdered, sharing the win with GroundUp’s Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons for their investigation into … Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana.”
GroundUp’s Steve Kretzmann received a special commendation from the judges in the sustainability category for his series of articles on water quality.
Daily Maverick’s Tamsin Metelerkamp won the Young Journalist of the Year Award for her stories on the Northern Cape floods and an Air Force training course.
The VJOY Lifetime Achiever Award for 2023 was given posthumously to Carte Blanche news anchor Derek Watts. The award was accepted on his behalf by his daughter, Kirsty Watts.
The Opinion award went to Eyewitness News’s Zongile Nhlapo for “Motherhood isn’t defined by my non-verbal son calling me mom”.
Khwezi FM’s Saziso Dlamini won the Features award for an unemployment special.
Newzroom Afrika’s Zukiswa Cetywayo and her team won the Lifestyle award for their story on the Tembisa Drug Rehabilitation Movement.
AmaBhungane’s Njabulo Ngidi won the Sport award for an investigative piece on the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup.
OFM’s Olebogeng Motse won the Financial and Economics award for “The construction mafia: is it transformation or criminality?”
Carte Blanche’s Harri Vithi won the Politics award for an exposé of Joburg councillors’ betrayal of the city’s residents.
The Outlier’s Media Hack team of Laura Grant won the Sustainability award for “A Perfect Storm”.
The Live reporting/breaking news award went to eNCA’s Ronald Masinda and Nceba Ntlanganiso for “Dutywa hostage drama”.
The Photography award went to Rapport’s Elizabeth Sejake for “Malema: ‘We will end load shedding’”.
The Innovation in journalism award had joint winners: Eyewitness News’ Kgomotso Modise for the Meyiwa trial, and MyBroadband’s Johannes Steyn for mobile network coverage feature.