Closing date for Citadel journalism award

The number of entries has grown each year since the establishment of the award in 2000, as issues related to the personal financial affairs of consumers and serious investors alike increasingly attract attention from all media.

"Each year we receive entries from a greater variety of media. The bulk of the entries come from the established business media, but increasingly more and more entries are included from consumer magazines, lifestyle media and the like as these media now regularly include financial issues on feature lists. The leading investment writers in the country are regular winners and raise the quality of reporting on often difficult and complex issues every year," according to Citadel and Peregrine CEO Keith Betty.

"We established the award to promote reporting on these issues and to encourage the publication, or broadcast, of quality investment and finance information that provides investors and consumers with appropriate information," Betty said.

Charlene Clayton of Personal Finance was the overall winner in 2006. She entered a series of features published in the weekly newspaper edition of Personal Finance and the quarterly magazine format. Her entry pack included articles about the selection of a savings account and a series about property investment, a hot topic in 2005.

Sophia Phirripides and Jonathan Pienaar, independent producers for M-Net's Carte Blanche programme, were the winners of the electronic category last year and Bruce Cameron, editor of Personal Finance, the winner of the print category. FINweek's Shaun Harris won the Peregrine Hedge Fund award and the 2000 overall winner, Stephen Cranston of Financial Mail, won the Chairman's Award for investigative reporting.

Previous overall winners include Bruce Cameron (2001 and 2005), Moneyweb's Alec Hogg (2004), Marc Hasenfuss of FINweek (2003) and Stafford Thomas of Financial Mail (2002).

Details of the award and an entry form are available on the Citadel web site. 'Press Room' at www.citadel.co.za.