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Who writes best about business?

Entries have opened for the Sanlam Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism which will be presented for the 40th consecutive year in June 2015.
The deadline for entries is pegged for 20 February.
While traditionally entry has been open to South African journalists, the African Growth Story category, introduced in 2013, is also open to journalists working across Africa and whose work is published and/or broadcast on the continent.

A record 134 entries, including those from journalists working outside South Africa and competing for the African Growth Story category award, were received for the 2013 Awards which were presented in July last year. Sanlam is hoping the 2014 entries will be even bigger.
Dr Johan van Zyl, Sanlam Group Chief Executive, said that the 40-year milestone reaffirms the Group’s commitment to honouring the role that financial journalists play in the economy and the corporate sector. “We continue to respect the work of the financial media, often in challenging circumstances.”
Van Zyl said that despite the fast pace of change within the media, the critical function performed by financial journalists remains unchanged. “They inform and educate us and they are watchdogs. As such, they are truly indispensable to the business world.”
The categories revised in 2013 in line with the changing media landscape, include platform neutral (business/companies, economy, financial markets, consumer financial education and African growth story) and platform specific (radio journalist of the year, television journalist of the year, print journalist of the year and the online or multi-media journalist of the year) awards. Special awards for lifetime achievement, best newcomer of the year and financial journalist of the year will also be awarded.
Ainsley Moos, Head: Group Communications at Sanlam in South Africa said the African Growth Story award is important to the Sanlam Group since it has a presence in 15 countries across the continent. “In its first year, we received a relatively good number of entries from outside South Africa, and we are now bolstering our efforts to ensure that we receive even more work from the rest of the continent this year. There is so much talent and excellent financial and investigative journalism across Africa which we are eager to uncover and award through this category.”
The judging panel will use the following criteria to evaluate entries: news value, impact, rigour in reporting, analytical value, originality, integrity, specialist knowledge and story-telling.
Peter Vundla, chairperson of AMB Capital Limited, is the convener of the judging panel while the judges will include:  Charles Naudé, retired editor; Caroline Southey, Editor: The Conversation Africa; Franz Krüger, Adjunct Professor of Journalism, Wits; Prof Nixon Kariithi, Tangaza Africa Media; Maud Motanyane, Kagiso Media; Ulrich Joubert, independent economist and Jabulani Sikhakhane, Chief Director: Communications at South Africa’s National Treasury.

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