Sanlam Uganda Monday announced that Uganda will be participating in the Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism.
The awards have been recognising and rewarding exceptional business journalism since 1974.
The awards aim to honour the indispensable role of the financial journalist in modern business life and the high standards required by this profession – in particular: integrity, diverse knowledge, insight, responsibility and judgment.
Speaking at the press launch, Donato Laboke the General Manager: Marketing & Brand Sanlam Uganda highlighted the exceptional work that business reporters have done since last year to date and how this is a great opportunity for not just showcasing their work but also getting recognised for it, “You have been exemplary in informing the country about various businesses and also educating them about the insurance sector,” he said.
Labokeadded that, “This is a great opportunity to not just be recognised locally, but globally.”
An independent panel of judges – which includes media experts, an academician and an economist will evaluate entries according to the following criteria: news value, impact, rigour in reporting, analytical value, originality, integrity, specialist knowledge and storytelling.
Gary Corbit, the CEO Sanlam General Insurance Uganda also noted that, “2018 is a milestone year for Sanlam because we will be celebrating 100 years – we have grown stronger after recently acquiring Lion Assurance and the awards come as the cherry on the cake to further emphasise how strong the Ugandan market is.”
The awards are the premier financial journalism awards in South Africa and have become a prestigious and fiercely contested accolade. As such, they have become open to journalists outside of South Africa in line with Sanlam’s expansion on the continent.
In 2013, Sanlam introduced a new category, the ‘African Growth Story’, the only one of the five categories in the competition that is open for entry to all African journalists whose work is published and/or broadcast in Africa.
This category aims to honour the journalist who best captures the growth story of the continent. Each entry must include a minimum of three and maximum of five articles, reports, recordings or transcriptions that have been published or broadcast between 1 January to 31 December, 2017. Entries for the competition close on Friday, 2 March 2018.
In an ongoing effort to streamline the entry and judging process, there are no separate “platform neutral” and “platform specific” categories, rather one combined category that includes entries from all channels – print, TV, radio, online and multimedia – across businesses/companies, economy, financial markets, consumer financial education and the African Growth Story.
The best performers in each medium – print, TV, radio and online across all five categories will be decided by the judges and announced on the awards evening as Financial Journalist of the Year – print, TV, radio, online and multimedia. Any writer or broadcaster may enter a submission on a subject related to business, companies, the economy, financial markets or consumer financial education.
Stories originally published in a language other than English may be submitted and the organisers will arrange for a translation as part of the judging process.
Individual journalists can submit a maximum of one entry per award and each entry must have its own entry form and must be submitted separately. Each entry must include a minimum of three and maximum of five articles, reports, recordings or transcriptions that have been published or broadcast between 1 January to 31 December, 2017.
With the exception of the African Growth Story award, only stories published or broadcast in South Africa are eligible. In terms of the African Growth Story award, any journalist working for a media vehicle; Print, TV, Radio, Online which is produced and distributed on the African continent is eligible.
Entries are open for work published/broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2017, and submissions can be made via the Sanlam website.
The Awards will be presented later in 2018 in Johannesburg (exact date to be confirmed).
