The 36th AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards has attracted a record number of entries.
A total of 538 entries were received for the 2025 competition which awards work published in 2024. Last year a total of 513 entries were received and the year before that a total of 527 entries were received.
Most entries were received for Best Front Page (83), Hard News (78) and Human Interest (71).
The judging is currently underway, and this difficult task is being handled by 20 seasoned professionals.
They are Dr André Gouws – Convener of judges, Alé Steyn, Buks Viljoen, Chantel Erfort Manuel, DeWet Potgieter, Elsabe Retief, Johann Maarman, Kyle Cowan, Lucia Poolman, Marlene Malan, Mercy Kannemeyer, Nomakhawuta Mo, Pieter Delport, Thalyta Swanepoel, Tobie van den Bergh, Virginia Keppler, Willem Kempen Zee Zenande, Yolanda van der Stoep and Mlungizi Louw.
“The Avbob FCJ Excellence Awards are a personal highlight of the year for me as convener of the judging panel. I always look forward with great anticipation to the year’s entries, to see what community newspapers around South Africa are doing,” says Gouws.
“Adjudicators happily offer their time and expertise because of their deep love for community journalism. Community journalism has become even more important in South Africa since the closure of several national and regional print newspapers in 2024.
“We have a very strong panel of adjudicators, who are all journalism experts. Some are academics and some are current or former journalists. This mix of people brings a variety of perspectives to our panel, which ensures that judging will be impartial and fair,” Gouws concluded.
The judging will be completed by the end of June and finalists will be announced early in July.
The spectacular gala evening where the winners will be honoured, will be hosted in Stellenbosch on 22 August.
