Celebrating its 30th year in existence, Caxton’s annual Excellence Awards has acknowledged the contributions of its sales and editorial staff and management of its local free and sold newspapers. At this year’s awards, R275 000 was distributed in prize money with George Herald being named the Best Sold Newspaper; The Randburg Sun as Best Free Newspaper and the Polokwane Review Bonus as the Best Emerging Market paper. 
Karen Geurtse, General Manager for Caxton Local Media Regionals said: “Even though the awards are in their 30th year, we are constantly overwhelmed with the hundreds of entries we receive each year from our teams. The Caxton Excellence Awards celebrate and acknowledge those individuals and local printed products that excel in their market.”
Other winners this year included Lizette da Silva (George Herald) for Best Front Page; Leah Shone editor of Get It Balito/Umhlanga was named the Best Get It magazine while Tereasa Dias (Lowvelder) was acknowledged as the Group’s Best Multimedia Journalist.
The Most Promising Newspaper Journalist of the year was awarded to Arisa Janse van Rensburg (Lowvelder), with the Best Headline Writing accolade going to Kristy Kolberg (George Herald).
On the photography front, Ettienne van Rensburg from Vaal Weekblad was named overall Photographer of the Year. He also claimed the Best Human Interest Photograph category. Hugo Redelinghuys (George Herald) won Best Sports Photograph while Wayne van der Walt (Standerton Advertiser) won Best Hard News Photograph.
Ad Designer of the Year went to Geraldine Reyneke (Lowvelder). Field Sales Consultant of the Year went to Tamsin McMaster (Joburg South) and the Best Community Involvement went to Norman Dawe, Daniella Potter Geshika Vorster and Aiden Eksteen from Fourways Review for their feature on the Ark Animal Centre.
“These awards shouldn’t be underestimated as they hold our teams accountable every day to ensure that the best local print products are consistently delivered to our readers and advertisers,” says CEO of SPARK Media, Gill Randall. “Our editorial and sales people live and breathe their community every day, which is why they have such an exceptional understanding of their areas. These awards demonstrate this, and the value that each and every one of these ‘Caxtonites’ bring, not only to the local community, but to the advertisers looking to reach our valuable consumers.
We congratulate all the winners and applaud the quality of entries from each individual and all our teams.”
To contact SPARK Media: call +27 10 492 8391 or email info@sparkmedia.co.za.
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Established in 2015, SPARK Media, a division of CTP Ltd, are experts in retail and location based marketing solutions. The company owns and represents a myriad of print and digital products that deliver locally relevant, effective audiences for advertising clients. SPARK Media are Strategic Partners in Audience Research and Knowledge and offer ‘Insights that Ignite’.