Roodepoort Northsider bags second place in FCJ Newspaper of the Year category

The Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) held a suave gala dinner in honour of standout community scribes, on August 4.

Sponsored by Avbob, the 2022 FCJ Excellence Awards were held at the Southern Sun Cape Sun in Cape Town.

“The Forum has been able to contribute significantly to the upliftment of community journalism simply because of the trust in the work done by the forum and community journalists,” said FCJ executive director Marietta Lombard.

In his address, Avbob CEO Carl van der Riet said, “As a business, Avbob is deeply rooted in, and connected to the communities in which we operate. We applaud the work you do to keep our communities informed and empowered with information. According to the United Nations, without freedom of the press, there can be no real democratic societies. Your work is an essential contribution to the building of a transparent and free society.”

The Roodepoort Northsider was a finalist in the Corporate-Owned Free Newspaper Fewer Than 24 Pages category. The publication was awarded second place behind its sister publication, the Northcliff Melville Times.

Journalist for the Northsider Jarryd Westerdale was a finalist in both the human interest and investigative writing categories but fell short of the podium.

In other notable achievements, former Northsider journalist Blake Linder, now at the Knysna-Plett Herald, won the Best Sports Writer category. Northsider resident and former Northsider journalist, Ashtyn Mackenzie, now the editor of the Rosebank Killarney Gazette, guided her publication to first place in the Best Front Page for Corporate-Owned Free Newspaper category.
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