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Daily Dispatch reporters and photographers excelled in the 19th Vodacom Journalist of the Year (VJOY) regional awards on Monday, winning four categories.
This year's awards were held virtually because of Covid-19 regulations. Dispatch reporters Bongani Fuzile and Sino Majangaza won two categories.
Their series The Stinking Truth looked at numerous Eastern Cape municipalities where sewerage plants were no longer working and sewage was pouring into houses and rivers.
Their indefatigable efforts saw them winning the Sustainability category on Monday.
The second award, in the Investigative category, was for their Terminal Healthcare series on the poor state of public hospitals in the province. Fuzile and Majangaza traversed the lengths and breadths of the province exposing appalling conditions at state facilities.
Lulamile Feni won the Photographic category for his photo essay on AmaHlubi initiation homecoming.
Former Daily Dispatch reporter Malibongwe Dayimani took home the Live Reporting and Breaking News category for his series of articles on Fritz Joubert, the East London man who murdered sangoma Anele Hoyana.
Michael Kimberley and Nomazima Nkosi, of the Dispatch's sister paper The Herald, won the Politics category for their series on Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. Chiara Carter, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch and Herald, commended the journalists for their achievements.
"Once again the Dispatch and Herald have lived up to their reputation for leading the way with in-depth coverage of local news and cutting-edge investigations. We are especially delighted at the awards for our investigative series on the province's ailing health system, which was published just ahead of the Covid-19 crisis," she said.
Ryland Fisher, convener of the judging panel, said that the judges were impressed by the quality of the entries.
"Despite the impact of a shrinking economy and the havoc wreaked by Covid-19 on our industry, journalists continued to do what they do best: breaking stories; writing beautiful, descriptive features; investigating corruption and other crimes; capturing the best news moments on film, video and audio; and keeping viewers, listeners and readers informed," Fisher said.
"We are proud that South African journalists have once again stepped up when confronted by a difficult situation.”
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