Rothbart won with her article I am Koto Bolofo, which appeared in Elle South Africa and Jenny Andrew took the visual fashion editing category with the Licensed to Thrill feature published in Business Day: Wanted.
This year's shortlisted finalists were:
Fashion writing:
Fashion Editing:
The 2008 judging panel included: Ferial Haffajee, editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian, Laurice Taitz, managing editor of The Times Online, literary critic and 702 talk show host Jenny Crwys-Williams, Simphiwe Mpye, former editor of Blink magazine, and media entrepreneur and fashion commentator and trends analyst, Dion Chang (convener).
Each category winner receives a prize to the value of R25 000 each, which will be applied for a trip to an international fashion week or trade fair for the winter 2009/10 season.
According to Chang, the competition's second year saw a marked upward shift in the calibre of the entries. This was particularly evident in the visual editing category, where the standard was very high, with local fashion editors finding a perfect balance between creative concept and the transference of fashion information to the reader.
“In a cold digital world, people need and respond to stories, and our shortlisted finalists are all excellent storytellers,” he said.
The writing category saw more well-researched and considered features - on fashion as an industry rather than an entertainment spectacle - appearing in newspapers and magazines.
“It is also encouraging to see the growth, and quality, of articles written online. This was an area that the Sanlam SA Fashion Journalism Awards wanted to encourage and promote, and this year's entries show that this medium is becoming more focused. The online voices and opinions have moved from the fringe into a more mainstream media environment, which can only benefit the industry in the long run.”
According to Haffajee, the entries were perfectly "glocal" - globally competitive but with a strong local aesthetic.
The quality of the editorial fashion spreads were particularly competitive, while the writing showed up new gems. Echoing Chang's view that the writers still represented too small a cluster, Haffajee believes that on the whole “the words of fashion” still required more work.
According to Nandi Scorer, head: group marketing, Sanlam recognises the positive impact that a thriving fashion and clothing industry can have on the South African economy and in particular, on large-scale job creation.
“Key to stimulating a recognition of and demand for locally produced design, is, however, the need to raise awareness of local talent by encouraging high calibre media coverage of our industry.
The Sanlam SA Fashion Journalism Awards supplements the company's highly successful Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism, which is now in its 34rd year, as well as the Awards for Community Press, now in its 16th year.
