2014 SA's top Property Journalists honoured by SAPOA

By
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font
On behalf SA Commercial Prop News, Media Director Ortneil Kutama accepts the prestigious SAPOA Journalism Award for best Online News Coverage Category. On behalf SA Commercial Prop News, Media Director Ortneil Kutama accepts the prestigious SAPOA Journalism Award for best Online News Coverage Category.

SAPOA sewed up the 2014 Property Journalism of the Year Awards today at its 46th Annual International Convention and Property Exhibition in Cape Town, as the commercial property sector honoured and recognised the dedicated and professional members of the media who have contributed immensely to the industry.

This year’s winners are Joan Muller from Business Day for Property News Journalist of the Year, Mary Anne Constable of the Journal of Facilities Management in the Property Feature Journalist of the Year category, Shopping SA cinched Property Publication of the Year and SA Commercial Prop News took the Property Online News award for the third consecutive year.

“The SAPOA Property Journalism Awards serves not only to recognise the best in the industry but also to encourage journalists to strive to achieve the highest standards, and hopefully the recognition from these awards will serve to motivate and inspire the best journalists in the profession,” says Neil Gopal, SAPOA CEO.
   
This year, tracking technological developments in the media industry, digital-only publications were also considered in the Property Publication of the Year category for the first time.

The awards were sponsored by property services company, JHI, "This is a complex and dynamic industry, which encompasses a wide range of issues and aspects impacting on those operating in the built environment, placing a high demand and responsibility on the media who report on these,” says JHI’s Managing Director, Nomzamo Radebe.

This year’s five-person Judging Panel, chosen for their valuable insights and expertise, included Radebe, Editor for the Business Times Rob Rose, Vernon Matzopoulos of Summit TV, Managing Director of Design & Photography Services , and Capstone Property Group’s Brian Azizollahoff, who also serves as Chairman of the SAPOA Property Journalism Awards.

“We were thrilled to see that the number of entries received this year were up from last year. This meant more work for the judges of course, but we were more than happy to do it especially because the high quality of the entries made the process informative and inspiring,” says Azizollahoff.

Demonstrating the esteem in which the awards are held, entries increased from 27 to 37 across the board for this specialised journalism beat. The most hotly contested category was Property Feature Journalist of the Year which received 14 entries.

In the Property News Journalist category, Business Day’s Joan Muller, was praised for her unwavering standard of quality journalism, newsworthy content and thorough investigation into pertinent property issues.

Former winner in the category and esteemed property journalist Elma Kloppers from Sake24/Beeld received a special mention in this group.

In the Property Feature Journalist category, Mary Anne Constable, features writer for the Journal of Facilities Management, won the award for her fresh style of writing and thought-provoking articles that the judges felt were well presented.

Candace King from SA Property Review and Property Developer received a special mention in this category.

Winning the coveted Best Property Publication, Shopping SA, the Official Journal of the South African Council of Shopping Centres, was a clear winner for what the judges described as a good range of informative and well researched content. The publication’s relevance to the sector scored it paramount with the panel.

Earning a special mention in this category was the Real Estate Magazine.

Scooping up the Property Online News award, SA Commercial Prop News impressed judges with its comprehensive site, which they felt presented a wide variety of current and topical property information. It’s neat, visually appealing, easy-to-navigate structure earned it top place in the category.


NEWSLETTER — GET THE LATEST NEWS IN YOUR INBOX. SIGN UP RIGHT HERE.


Enter your e-mail address below using Lowercase.



Home in 1 | Leading Supplier to Events, Catering & Hospitality Industry