Corporate publications in the limelight

The function coincided with the SA Publication Forum's second conference, with the theme Think2Ink.

Close on 100 publications were entered in the various categories this year and were judged in terms of writing, communication, as well as design and photography in the following categories: Newspapers, internal magazines, external magazines, internal newsletters, external newsletters, once-off publications, annual reports, electronic publications, editor of the year, as well as videos and DVDs.

There were seven finalists for the best corporate publication. These included Mercedes from DaimlerChrysler, entered by New Media; Sandaba (Sanlam); In Clover (Clover); 3sixty (Nedbank); Heita (Tshwane University of Technology); Small Capital (The Real Business Partnership, entered by Words'worth Publishing) and xplore (Mitshubisi Motors, entered by New Media).

New Media walked away with awards for the best external magazine with a large budget with Mercedes and the best once-off publication with Front Cover. Naomi Herselman, director of New Media received the trophies on the company's behalf.

The award for the best electronic publication was shared between Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and Pick 'n Pay. The best corporate video went to Standard Bank for the second year running.

The best internal newsletter was TUT's Heita and Small Capital, entered by Wordsworth Publishing, was named best external newsletter. Nedbank's 3sixty was the best internal magazine and was also considered the most improved magazine.

Santam Fokus was the best external magazine and the overall winner, The Metropolitan Today, was also the winner of the newspaper category. Finally, Unisa walked away with the trophy for the best annual report.

The organisers are investigating ways to accommodate a greater variety of publications, especially in categories such as electronic publications and have already begun to refine the judging process by for example taking budget into consideration this year. External publications were judged in two categories, those with big budgets and those with smaller budgets. Visit www.sapublicationforum.co.za for more information on the SA Publication Forum.