Everyday South Africans got the chance to become citizen journalists during 2020 and are now being rewarded for their hard work and dedication to creating incredible stories for SA.
Paarl, South Africa (28 April 2021) – A Plattekloof journalism student, Terri-Ann Brouwers, was announced as the first-ever Sinelizwi Citizen Journalist of the Year by agricultural news platform Food For Mzansi and the Google News Initiative (GNI).
Brouwers was also the top performer for the Western Cape while Gauteng’s Nozipho Ntshingila was the first runner-up and winner of an award for outstanding programme participation. Lebogang Malebo, also from Gauteng, received the award for Sinelizwi News Journalist of the Year and was also the second runner-up in the overall competition. Melanie Baumeister from George in the Western Cape was the Farmer’s Inside Track Podcast Contributor of the Year.
Food For Mzansi and GNI launched Sinelizwi, a year-long, WhatsApp-based training programme, in March 2020. Despite challenges brought about by the coronavirus lockdown more than 60 aspiring citizen journalists from all nine provinces were selected to learn from some of the best journalists in South Africa.
The Sinelizwi awards function was hosted at the Rhebokskloof Wine Estate outside Paarl in the Western Cape. The programme is an initiative of Food For Mzansi founders, Ivor Price and Kobus Louwrens, who are empowering youth to tell their own stories using available technologies.
“Through the Sinelizwi Citizen Journalist programme we have empowered these citizens, essentially what we in the media industry collectively refer to as ‘the audience’, to give back to the country,” said Price, a multi-award-winning journalist himself. “These citizen journalists are no longer just the audience or passive observers, but through Sinelizwi they play an active role in the uplifting of our beautiful democracy. Food For Mzansi invited, identified and empowered these citizens to unleash the power of citizen journalism in our newsroom.”
Upon accepting the award Bouwers said, “Food For Mzansi and the Sinelizwi programme literally saved my life. At the time when we had to submit our application, I was suffering from depression, anxiety and had serious suicidal thoughts. The day when I got the news that I was selected for the programme I was in a very dark place and fighting suicidal thoughts.”
Louwrens highlighted the importance of the partnership with internet giant Google.
“Everyone’s story is worth telling and we need to motivate our citizens to dream big, but we need to empower them with the tools and that is what we always aspire to do.”
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