Nat Nakasa Journalism Awards 2021 Winners

The winner of the Nat Nakasa Award for 2021 is Styli Charalambous, the CEO and co-founder of Daily Maverick. Since its inception the publication has become one of the leading online and a printed publication in SA, in part because of the commitment and passion of the former chartered accountant. Styli says he is now “fully reformed and passionate about the media business”.

This year, the Nat Nakasa Award Community Media was made to Nathan Geffen and Raymond Joseph for their work in the community news agency GroundUp. Since 2018, this small community news agency has persisted with a series of investigations into the NLC that have uncovered corruption, maladministration, and nepotism.  The news agency’s work in general — and its reporting on the lotteries scandal in particular— provides a sterling example of good community journalism in action.  Editor Geffen started GroundUp ten years ago, as a donor-funded community news agency focusing on social justice issues.

The coveted Stephen Wrottesley Award went to Mahlatse Mahlase,chairperson of SANEF 2016 – 2020 and current secretary-general. The award was presented “for her passion, professionalism and commitment to SANEF and her dedication to media freedom and ethics.” Mahlase embodies what SANEF stands for: an unwavering passion for media freedom and a deep commitment to make South Africa a better and more equal place for its citizens, through journalism. Nominated by her peers, Mahlase steered SANEF to financial and organisational stability and has led SANEF in its principled campaign against prevailing hate speech and online abuse against journalists. She championed SANEF’s activism to push back against the abuse of particularly women journalists by politicians and online trolls.

In addition, SANEF recognises five community radio stations this year who have shown determination and bravery in serving their communities: Alex FM; Westside FM 98.9 MHz; Mams Radio; Intokozo FM and Kasie FM 97.1. The prizes were awarded from the SANEF Media Relief Fund. Click here for more info.

The awards are sponsored by SANLAM.