Journalism excellence in spotlight at awards

THE NAMIBIAN’S Lindsay Dentlinger emerged as the best newspaper journalist of the year at the Misa-Namibia Awards held in Windhoek on Friday.

Oswald Shivute of The Namibian was awarded the Community Reporter Award, while Dentlinger and Werner Menges won the Best Journalism Team Award. It is the third time that the Media Institute of Namibia has staged the awards.The Namibian also scored in the Best Supplement category, with Carmen Honey and Conrad Angula placing second for their work on the weekly YouthPaper.The Namibian’s Denver Isaacs was runner-up to Doro Grebe of the Allgemeine Zeitung (AZ) in the Young Journalist category, with Sybille Muhle, also of the AZ, placing third.In the overall photographic section, the Allgemeine Zeitung’s Dirk Heinrich took top honours after winning the Best News Photo category and coming third in the Sports category.The Namibian’s Tanja Bause placed second in the overall photographic section.Bause was placed second and third in the Best News Photo category.She also came second in the Feature Photo category.The Feature category was won by Francois Poolman of Republikein.Helge Schutz, the Editor of Namibia Sport magazine, won Sports Photographer of the Year.The Sports Reporter of the Year award went to Frederico Links, who writes for Namibia Sport.NEWS FRONT In the main news categories, this year’s panel of predominantly academic judges chose to favour the small, elitist monthly magazine niche over the fast-paced, pressurised world of newspapers and daily news reporting.Their choice for Journalist of the Year was Tangeni Amupadhi, co-editor of Insight magazine, who rated in the Political, Scoop of the Year, Magazine and Reporting categories.Still, the consistently brilliant performance – day in and day out – of Namibia’s top hard news reporters, and the sheer quality, volume and investigative nature of their work meant the judges could not ignore them.The Namibian’s Lindsay Dentlinger was the best newspaper journalist in Scoop of the Year Category, for a pivotal report that blew open the the N$100 million Offshore Development Company (ODC) scam.Dentlinger was also the top newspaper journalist in the Reporter of the Year category for reports on the death of Lazarus Kandara during the Avid-SSC inquiry; crack investigative work on the ODC case and ensuring that it stayed on the national agenda; for rigorous reporting on labour and environmental issues at the Ramatex textile factory; breaking the story on Red Mountain Lodge, which opened a can of worms linked to land, development, community and environmental issues; and the Khomasdal Catholic rift, which gripped the imagination of Windhoek communities.The Namibian’s Werner Menges was the second best newspaper journalist in the Reporter of the Year category – for his impeccable reporting on the complex Caprivi High Treason Trial, one of the most important post-Independence legal cases; for his comprehensive coverage of Namibia’s first Presidential transfer of power, which captured the detail, significance and colour of the moment; and indepth reporting on various aspects of the Avid Investment Inquiry, including the role of former Swapo Party Youth League leader Paulus Kapia.Dentlinger was also the top newspaper journalist in the Political Journalist category – for masterfully capturing a particular moment in Namibian history: the ballot recount; and also for her consistently skilful reporting on Parliament and the political drama that plays out there.In addition, Dentlinger and Menges won Best Journalism Team for their reporting on the Avid-SSC scam case.COLUMNS, COMMUNITY Des Erasmus and Anneli Erasmus of Republikein fared particulary well in the community and column sections.Anneli Erasmus won Best Columnist, with Des Erasmus placed third in the same category.The couple also took top honours in the Best Supplement category – for Erongosig, a supplement to Republikein.In addition Des Erasmus placed second in the Community Reporter category.The Namibian’s Shivute, who is based at Oshakati, won the Community category for his reporting on the multi-dimensioned Kavango cattle dispute and its implications, which involves communal and ethnic issues and the controversial issue of illegal fencing.Luqman Cloete, who writes on the South for The Namibian from Keetmanshoop, placed third in this category.This year the Business Journalist award went to Robin Sherbourne, economics consultant and co-editor of Insight magazine; Eberhard Hoffmann of the Allgemeine Zeitung was the top newspaper journalist in this category, followed by Des Erasmus of Republikein.Graham Hopwood of Insight magazine romped home in the Specialist Writer Category, followed by Dirk Heinrich of the AZ and Desie Heita of The Namibia Economist.David Lush, also of Insight magazine, was the proud winner in the Features category.In a controversial move, the judges scrapped two categories: Newspaper of the Year, and Best Front Page.Although the media were informed that all newspapers were automatically entered in this category, one of the judges, Polytech of Namibia lecturer and hiking author, Willie Olivier, announced that they had decided to do away with it “because only one newspaper entered”.Olivier said they had eliminated the Front Page category because, in their view, the entries “were not up to scratch”.The other judges were: Wolfram Hartmann, a history lecturer at the University of Namibia; Dr Carol Kotze, a teacher and a former editor of the now-defunct Windhoek Advertiser; Emily Brown, also a lecturer at the Polytechnic of Namibia; and Joe Putz, a copy editor at a weekly newspaper.It is the third time that the Media Institute of Namibia has staged the awards.The Namibian also scored in the Best Supplement category, with Carmen Honey and Conrad Angula placing second for their work on the weekly YouthPaper.The Namibian’s Denver Isaacs was runner-up to Doro Grebe of the Allgemeine Zeitung (AZ) in the Young Journalist category, with Sybille Muhle, also of the AZ, placing third.In the overall photographic section, the Allgemeine Zeitung’s Dirk Heinrich took top honours after winning the Best News Photo category and coming third in the Sports category.The Namibian’s Tanja Bause placed second in the overall photographic section.Bause was placed second and third in the Best News Photo category.She also came second in the Feature Photo category.The Feature category was won by Francois Poolman of Republikein.Helge Schutz, the Editor of Namibia Sport magazine, won Sports Photographer of the Year.The Sports Reporter of the Year award went to Frederico Links, who writes for Namibia Sport.NEWS FRONT In the main news categories, this year’s panel of predominantly academic judges chose to favour the small, elitist monthly magazine niche over the fast-paced, pressurised world of newspapers and daily news reporting.Their choice for Journalist of the Year was Tangeni Amupadhi, co-editor of Insight magazine, who rated in the Political, Scoop of the Year, Magazine and Reporting categories.Still, the consistently brilliant performance – day in and day out – of Namibia’s top hard news reporters, and the sheer quality, volume and investigative nature of their work meant the judges could not ignore them.The Namibian’s Lindsay Dentlinger was the best newspaper journalist in Scoop of the Year Category, for a pivotal report that blew open the the N$100 million Offshore Development Company (ODC) scam.Dentlinger was also the top newspaper journalist in the Reporter of the Year category for reports on the death of Lazarus Kandara during the Avid-SSC inquiry; crack investigative work on the ODC case and ensuring that it stayed on the national agenda; for rigorous reporting on labour and environmental issues at the Ramatex textile factory; breaking the story on Red Mountain Lodge, which opened a can of worms linked to land, development, community and environmental issues; and the Khomasdal Catholic rift, which gripped the imagination of Windhoek communities.The Namibian’s Werner Menges was the second best newspaper journalist in the Reporter of the Year category – for his impeccable
reporting on the complex Caprivi High Treason Trial, one of the most important post-Independence legal cases; for his comprehensive coverage of Namibia’s first Presidential transfer of power, which captured the detail, significance and colour of the moment; and indepth reporting on various aspects of the Avid Investment Inquiry, including the role of former Swapo Party Youth League leader Paulus Kapia.Dentlinger was also the top newspaper journalist in the Political Journalist category – for masterfully capturing a particular moment in Namibian history: the ballot recount; and also for her consistently skilful reporting on Parliament and the political drama that plays out there.In addition, Dentlinger and Menges won Best Journalism Team for their reporting on the Avid-SSC scam case.COLUMNS, COMMUNITY Des Erasmus and Anneli Erasmus of Republikein fared particulary well in the community and column sections.Anneli Erasmus won Best Columnist, with Des Erasmus placed third in the same category.The couple also took top honours in the Best Supplement category – for Erongosig, a supplement to Republikein.In addition Des Erasmus placed second in the Community Reporter category.The Namibian’s Shivute, who is based at Oshakati, won the Community category for his reporting on the multi-dimensioned Kavango cattle dispute and its implications, which involves communal and ethnic issues and the controversial issue of illegal fencing.Luqman Cloete, who writes on the South for The Namibian from Keetmanshoop, placed third in this category.This year the Business Journalist award went to Robin Sherbourne, economics consultant and co-editor of Insight magazine; Eberhard Hoffmann of the Allgemeine Zeitung was the top newspaper journalist in this category, followed by Des Erasmus of Republikein.Graham Hopwood of Insight magazine romped home in the Specialist Writer Category, followed by Dirk Heinrich of the AZ and Desie Heita of The Namibia Economist.David Lush, also of Insight magazine, was the proud winner in the Features category.In a controversial move, the judges scrapped two categories: Newspaper of the Year, and Best Front Page.Although the media were informed that all newspapers were automatically entered in this category, one of the judges, Polytech of Namibia lecturer and hiking author, Willie Olivier, announced that they had decided to do away with it “because only one newspaper entered”.Olivier said they had eliminated the Front Page category because, in their view, the entries “were not up to scratch”.The other judges were: Wolfram Hartmann, a history lecturer at the University of Namibia; Dr Carol Kotze, a teacher and a former editor of the now-defunct Windhoek Advertiser; Emily Brown, also a lecturer at the Polytechnic of Namibia; and Joe Putz, a copy editor at a weekly newspaper.