Top media prizes announced at SAB Sports Media Awards 2015

The South African Breweries (SAB), together with a panel of prominent judges within the media industry, announced the winners of the annual SAB Sports Media Awards at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg.

The peer adjudicated Awards, now in their 35 year, applaud and reward those members of the media who have excelled in sports reportage in South Africa over the eligibility period.

The Times' Moeletsi Mabe won best action shot of the year.

This year’s Awards saw the introduction of the new Converged Media category in which entrants needed to demonstrate excellence in two or more of the four major categories while using Social Media platforms for amplification.

“The SAB Sports Media Awards have grown tremendously over the last few years. We have followed a very deliberate approach to ensure we continue to evolve the Awards in line with global and local developments in the media landscape. We are especially pleased with the entries we received under our new Converged Media category,” says Robyn Chalmers, Head of Corporate Communications at SAB.

“It was also great to see that this year’s entries included thoughtful coverage of sports that do not usually get the spotlight, showing the dynamic nature of sports journalism in the country,” she says.

The ceremony also paid tribute to legendary sports photographer Duif du Toit who passed away earlier this year, with an induction into the SAB Sports Media Hall of Fame.

The winners for the SAB Sports Media Awards 2015 are:

Converged Media

Winner: Simon Stephens (eNCA.com)

Newcomer of the Year

Winner: Morena Mothupi (EWN Sports)

Written Media Award Winners

Feature writer: Luke Alfred (cricket.co.za)

Columnist: Gary Lemke (Highbury Safika Media)

Sports News Reporter: Stephen Nell (Die Burger)

Overall Winner: Gary Lemke (Highbury Safika Media)

Photography Award

Sports Photographer of the Year: Anne Laing (Highbury Safika Media)

Action Shot of the Year: Moeletsi Mabe (Times Media Group)

Video Media Award

Sports News Reporter: Junia Stainbank (eNCA)

Sports producer: Dolly Mhlongo (SuperSport)

Overall Winner: Junia Stainbank (eNCA)

 Audio Media Award

Commentator: Brian Letsogo (SABC Sport)

Sports presenter: Thabiso Mosia (Power FM)

Sports reporter: Derek Alberts (EWN Sports)

Producer of the year: Comfort Kheswa (Talk Radio 702 & 567 Cape Talk)

Overall winner: Thabiso Mosia (Power FM)

Sports Personality of the Year

Winner: Wayde Van Niekerk

Hall of Fame:

Duif Du Toit          

“We at SAB would like to recognise all the entrants who submitted work that grabbed the attention of their readers and our panel of judges. We congratulate our winners on their amazing achievement in this peer adjudicated competition”, says Chalmers.