Journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh has been announced as this year's Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism winner for the Gangster State book. Daily Maverick journalist Pauli van Wyk took the second spot for her book on how the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) benefited from the VBS Bank.
The Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism award recognises and encourages watchdog journalism and has been around for 14 years. In the past years, the awards were dominated by mainstream publications, now the bulk of entries appeared first online, mainly from stand-alone investigative units amaBhungane and Viewfinder or online-only outlets such as Daily Maverick and Moneyweb.
The panel of judges paid a special tribute to journalists, editors and whistleblowers: "As always, we must pay special tribute to three groups of people, without whom the reporters could not do their work. First, there are those who support them, as audience, funders or partners. Second, are the editors who back the reporters and encourage them to do original, groundbreaking work. But perhaps most importantly, there are the whistleblowers, those who risk their lives and their livelihoods to speak out against wrongdoing, often with little reward or recognition. We give them a gigantic shout out," the judges panel said.
