Screen Africa is one of the finalists for an Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) Awards, in the category of Media of the Year. The awards are held in association with Mail and Guardian and Nedbank, and aim to develop awareness and appreciation of allied arts industries and open up the field for a greater sense of participation in the cultural life of our country.
2004 is an auspicious occasion for the Trust as it celebrates its 10th year of existence. ACT acknowledges a Decade of Development in recognition of those vital areas that support, sustain, promote and develop artistic creativity.
In the running for Arts Administrator of the Year are: David Barritt (Marulelo Communications/Revolution Events) Shadrack Bokaba (South African Music Education Trust) Nicolette du Plessis (Cultural Radius)
In the category of Journalist of the Year are: Michelle Constant (SAFm/SABC and Conde Nast/GQ Magazine) Maureen Isaacson (Sunday Independent) Sandile Memela (Sunday World)
Media of the Year (Internet and Print) finalists are: SA Art (Student Art Promotions) Screen Africa Supastage
In the running for Media of the Year (Radio and TV) are: Classic FM for "Live with the JPO" Fine Music Radio for "Sunday at Seven" and other programmes Khwezi Community Radio for "Indlela ibuzwa Kwabaphambili" ("Let's hear from the experts") Kyknet for "Kunskafee"
The Publicist of the Year category includes: Taryn Fisher (Taryn Fritz Public Relations and Communications) Otto Moloto (Market Theatre/Creative Native Concepts) Bridget van Oerle (Buz Publicity)
Finalists in the Cultural Development Project of the Year category are: Bees Consulting Group for the Kwazulu Natal Music Cluster Project Dance For All Ikhwezi Community Theatre Festival facilitated by the Baxter Theatre Centre ACT introduced a new category this year - Arts Education Project of the Year.
In the running are: Curriculum Development Project/Wits School of Arts Partnership First Words in Print Imbali Visual Literacy Project.
The Most Successful ACT-funded Project of the Year is an important category for the Trust as it pays tribute to those organisations or projects that have achieved a measure of sustainability and high artistic merit and have been funded by ACT at some point in time.
In the running are: Artist Proof Studio Cape Town Month of Photography (MoP - South African Centre for Photography) South African Library for the Blind The winner of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, which carries a R30 000 prize, will be announced on the night of the awards ceremony.
Previous winners include: Nofinishi Dywili, Gibson Kente, Professor Es'kia Mphahlele, Percy Baneshik and Professor Mzilikazi Khumalo. The panel of judges decided not to award the Sponsor of the Year category as they did not feel the entries received corresponded to all the criteria laid out by ACT.
The awards will once again be hosted by Nedbank on November 4 at the Nedbank Head Office in Sandown. The judges for this year's awards were Vanessa Cooke, director of the Market Theatre Laboratory; Ryan Fortune, Arts Editor of ThisDay; Martin Koboekae, writer, director and Artistic Director of Dramatists Against Crime; and Thangana Krila Gobingca George Mxadana, music director and conductor of the Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society.
The panel was generally impressed with the range of applications received in most categories, and commended individuals and organisations for the high standard of their entries. It is clear that there is a growing body of dedicated professionals working in media, publicity, management, education, finance and capacity building who provide quality services to the local cultural sector.
The enormous amount of energy, expertise and passion invested in projects by these individuals and organisations, often goes unnoticed and the ACT Awards exist to honour and celebrate the excellent work done behind the scenes on an ongoing basis.
Posted on Thursday 21 Oct 2004
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