The event will be attended by minister Collins Chabane (minister in the presidency); deputy minister of Communications, Stella Tembisa Ndabeni; Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications chair, Skhumbuzo Eric Kholwane; captains of the industry and close to 300 editors, journalists, photographers, broadcasters and peers.
The awards includes the inaugural Rantho/Letsebe Community Media Achievement Award.
This year, some 509 community and small commercial newspapers, corporate owned local newspapers and community radio stations from across the country as well as one from Namibia participated. There were 921 individual entries in the typography, writing, photography and 79 entries for the radio categories (Best Community Radio Station, Broadcasting in Indigenous Languages, In-depth News Coverage and Current Affairs, and in Investigative Journalism) were judged.
More than 213 photographs and over 79 radio programmes were also assessed individually. This, reportedly, makes the competition one of the largest of the many community/grassroots competitions held in South Africa annually.
