Award winners
Previous recipients of the Sanef-Wrottesley Award
2005 and 2008 and 2010 – Raymond Louw is a Sanef council member, publisher and editor of the Southern Africa Report, which he started in 1983. In addition, he is a special interventionist on media freedom issues.
2006 – Joe Thloloe has been a journalist since 1961. He the former editor-in-chief of SABC News and Sanef chair.
2007 – Mary Papayya is the secretary-general of Sanef and bureau chief of the Sowetan in KwaZulu-Natal. She is involved in a range of community and development projects and media training.
2009 – Mathatha Tsedu is a Sanef council member and editor of City Press. He is the former deputy head of news at the Sunday Times and The Star newspapers. Prior to that he held the same position at the SABC and served as editor of The Star. He was awarded the Nat Nakasa Journalism Award in 2000.
2011 – Hopewell Radebe is a Sanef Council member, the Gauteng Convenor of Sanef and Land & Agriculture Editor of Business Day
Previous recipients of the Nat Nakasa Award
2011 – no recipient
The Judges agreed not to award a winner in 2011. It has less to do with the entity or individuals being nominated and more to do with the nominations aligning themselves with the criteria and offering proof to substantiate claims of fearlessness, commitment and integrity. The criteria call for what is undoubtedly an exceptional person or organization and this is the first time in the award’s history that the Nat Nakasa Award was not being made. The judges agreed to acknowledge by special mention, the work of photojournalist, Anton Hammerl. Anton, a South African photojournalist who enjoyed a distinguished career, was killed whilst reporting on the war in Libya on April 5, 2011.
2010 – Terry Bell
Bell was forced into exile in 1965 and finally permitted to return in 1991. Since 1996 he produced, on a weekly basis, an often controversial and always informative Inside Labour column for Business Report. Terry Bell’s work has been of the highest quality. He has shown integrity and reported fearlessly, with a commitment to the greater good. He has also shown courage and resisted considerable pressures to make information available. Journalists around the country can also attest to the fact that Terry Bell has always been willing to provide information, advice, contact numbers and other help to colleagues seeking to serve the public interest. He is not driven by the need for glory or for by lines. In this he shows a quality rare among journalists: an ability to put his own interests aside in pursuit of the broader objective of informing citizens and building democracy.
2009 – Greg Marinovich
Marinovich is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and co-author of The Bang Bang Club, a non-fiction book on South Africa's transition to democracy.
2008 – Max du Preez
Du Preez has written newspaper columns for the Independent Group and News 24. In his early years he worked as political correspondent on the FM, Sunday Times and Business Day.
2007 – Jacques Pauw
Producer of Special Assignment and television documentaries. Pauw has reported on wars and civil conflicts in Algeria, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
2006 – Guy Berger
Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University. Berger is known as being forthright, fearless, courageous and committed.
2005 – Alf Kumalo
Veteran press photographer extraordinaire, Kumalo has over the decades shown integrity, fearlessness, resistance to censorship, courage and a commitment to serve South Africans by having his photos published despite obstacles.
2004 – Buks Viljoen
Investigative reporter of the Lowvelder and the first community journalist to receive such an award.
2003 – Debbie Yazbek
The Star’s chief photographer. David Hazelhurst, The Star’s creative director said in his nomination that Yazbek's physical courage and fearlessness were legendary at The Star; she faced chilling challenges in several riot situations.
2002 – Justin Arenstein
Founding editor of African Eye News Service. Arenstein launched AENS with his personal savings, a relative’s second-hand computer and two trainee journalists in 1995 after they were sacked from the Lowveld News for insisting on equal salaries for black and white reporters.
2001 – Andre Jurgens
The award was shared by the Sunday Times investigative team, André Jurgens (photo), Jessica Bezuidenhout and Mzilikazi wa Afrika.
2001 – Jessica Bezuidenhout
The award was shared by the Sunday Times investigative team, André Jurgens, Jessica Bezuidenhout (photo) and Mzilikazi wa Afrika.
2001, 1999 – Mzilikazi wa Afrika
He won the award in 1999 and in 2001 was one of the joint winners as part of the Sunday Times investigative team with André Jurgens and Jessica Bezuidenhout.
2000 – Mathatha Tsedu
Sanef council member and editor of City Press. He is the former deputy head of news at the Sunday Times and The Star newspapers. Prior to that he held the same position at the SABC and served as editor of The Star.