The panel, convened by Gus Silber, comprised: Anna Boshoff, magazine editor and communications consultant; Dion Chang, journalist and trend consultant; Paula Fray, Harvard Nieman Fellow and media trainer; Ferial Haffajee, editor of the Mail & Guardian; Sue Grant-Marshall, journalist and author; Joe Khumalo, journalist and columnist; TJ Lemon, photographer; Rico Schacherl, cartoonist; and De Waal Venter, critic and author.
"Judging the Mondi Magazine Awards is a joy, a privilege, and a challenge," says Silber. "The rich diversity and outstanding quality of so many of this year's entries made it even more difficult than ever to choose the winners, generating intense debate among the panel. It was a very close contest. Our thanks to everyone who entered, and our hearty congratulations to the winners and finalists."
The 72 finalists across the 15 categories are in the running for their share of the R150 000 in prize money, as well as their own Mondi golden nib trophy. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at The Castle in Kyalami on Wednesday, May 18 2005.
With 173 entries, the most popular category was Visual Impact (previously Design and Illustration), while the Features category followed with 102 submissions.
The magazine title with the most finalists is Insig with eight nominations, followed closely by Fairlady with seven and Marie Claire and SL Magazine with five nominations each.
In the BUSINESS category, the finalists are Deon Basson for 'Maduna, The Supermaster' in Finance Week; Claire Bisseker for 'Breaking Class' in Financial Mail; Chris Gilmour for 'Stormin' Norman' in Financial Mail; and Hilary Prendini-Toffoli for 'Wanneer word afkyk steel?' in Insig.
The finalists in the INDUSTRY section are Oscar Faulkes for 'Private Reserves' in The Property Magazine; Roger Hislop for 'Hobbled by ball and value chain' in Brainstorm; Ollie Madlala for 'AECI - TISO - 6% to Alex, Tembisa' in Engineering News; and Elizabeth Shorten for 'The Road to Perdition' in Transport World Africa.
The HEALTH & WELLNESS finalists are Irma Joubert for 'Deur Letters Verpletter' in Insig; Lerato Tshabalala and Suzy Brokensha for 'Would you put any of these into your vagina?' in Marie Claire; Laura Twiggs for 'The scent of memory' in Discovery; and Sam Wilson for 'Brilliant...and/or Bipolar?' in Marie Claire.
In the BEAUTY category, the finalists are Robynne Khan for 'The Bush Campaign' in Marie Claire; Heather Parker for 'How to be a fuss-free babe' in Shape; Shannon Smith for 'Forever Young' in Fairlady; and Laura Twiggs for 'Botox and Beyond' in Femina.
In the AT HOME category, the finalists are Tina Bester and Abigail Donnelly for 'Island Style' in Fairlady; Maranda Engelbrecht for a series of features in Taste; Tina-Marie Malherbe for 'Still Life' in VISI; and Genneth Lyn Ofsowitz for 'Alter Eco' in Elle Decoration.
The FORESIGHT finalists are Alan Duggan for 'Future warrior' in Popular Mechanics; Lauren Shantall for 'The Rise and Rise of Eco Living' in Elle Decoration; Irma Venter for 'Mining Space' in Mining Weekly; and Gillian Warren-Brown for 'Flying squad' in Popular Mechanics.
The judges nominated the following journalists in the COMMENTARY and CRITIQUE category: André Brink for 'Kontrei is koning' in Insig; Gary du Toit for 'Ads and Nads' in SL Magazine; Dana Snyman for 'Hans Wallaby' in Huisgenoot; and Annelize Visser for 'Love bites' in Taste.
The finalists in FASHION are: Sara Callow for 'Highland Fling' in SL Magazine; Charlotte Collins for 'Sof'town shuffle' in Marie Claire; Tracy Pywell for 'The big easy' in Elle; and Chris Viljoen for 'Eat out' in FHM.
The VISUAL IMPACT category finalists are: Piers Buckle for a series of layouts in Men's Health; Jaco Janse van Rensburg for 'Spring Openers' in VISI; Scott Robertson for 'Starving For Perfection' in SL Magazine; and Anton Sassenberg for 'Swing' in Pezula.
Finalists in TRAVEL, SPORT and LEISURE are: Andy Ellis for 'Men's Health Challenge' in Men's Health; Justin Fox for 'Driving South Africa's Circumference' in Getaway; Dine van Zyl for 'As die kreef lóóp!' in Insig; and Kate Wilson for 'Mucho By Mouth' in House and Leisure.
The judges have nominated the following journalists in the COLUMNS category: David Goatham for columns in Advantage; Don Pinnock for 'Natural Selections' in Getaway; Dana Snyman for 'Dana aan die woord' in Weg; and Marianne Thamm for columns in Fairlady.
The PHOTOGRAPHY finalists are Nick Aldridge for 'Rian Malan: Ons Hofnar' in Insig; Pieter Hugo for "Birthday Suits" in SL Magazine; and Marc Shoul for 'Hip City Guide Pretoria & Jo'burg' in Elle Decoration.
The finalists in the PROFILE category are: Larry Lombaard for 'Little Big Man' in Runner's World; Bongani Madondo for 'Brenda Fassie is Dead: Long Live the Queen' in Marie Claire; Rian Malan for 'The prince of darkness' in Fairlady; and Kirby van der Merwe for 'Paraat! in Dainfern' in Insig.
In the REPORTAGE category, the finalists are Stephan Hostatter for 'Struggling for a title deed to his own farm - another SA land-saga victim' in Farmer's Weekly; Troye Lund for 'Crime College' in Fairlady; Troye Lund and Mike Behr for 'Murder will out' in Fairlady; and Karin Schimke for 'Would you sell your eggs online?' in Femina.
The FEATURES finalists are Charl Blignaut for 'Walking Into A Bullet' in SL Magazine; Rian Malan for 'The heart of democracy' in Fairlady; Kirby van der Merwe for 'Die baba wat agtergebly het' in Insig; and Frederick van Zyl Slabbert for 'Die pad na Dakar' in Insig.
