Equus Journo awards...

1ST off congrats to tipster for winning the award,well done.... (tu)



read below a snippet from the sportingpost article Judge and Jury,was there not a big fuss about these awards last year? did mollet not scream like a banshee about something?





Gold Circle Publishing’s David Thiselton was the recipient of the Print Media award.

Thiselton is employed by the racing operator and produces regular interesting newsworthy copy from KwaZulu-Natal for the Independent Newspapers Racegoer insert. But the fact that he churns out pure news and information designed to bolster betting turnover, as opposed to opinionated editorial, throws something of a cat amongst the pigeons. It would be interesting to hear what swung the judges in his favour from a creative viewpoint.

If one compares Thiselton’s restrictions and mandate to the likes of independent journalists such as The Citizen’s Dave Mollett, who are not employed by the operator to produce favourable propagandist copy, then are we not judging juicy Granny Smith apples against tequila-injected oranges?

And we are not sour grapes. Just a bit of fruit for thought, as it were.

Our own regular contributor Robyn Louw was a winner of the Print Media award in 2011, but such is the fickle nature of this industry that the very talented journalist, who has produced multi-faceted opinion in the face of explosive individual differences and vastly varying corporate interests here in the Cape, did not even crack the nod as a guest invitee this year. That hardly builds loyalty.

Despite her submitting her entries timeously in terms of the award criteria, we were also informed that her submissions had not been considered on a technicality.


Snubbed. 2011 Print Media winner Robyn Louw was ignored this year.

Did this have anything to do with her treading on sensitive toes this past season?

Maybe we give too much credit where it just isn’t due, and that is a matter of conjecture. It is this very petty cold-shouldering that happens just once too often though, to believe that there are not more sinister forces at play at times.

Ultimately, few will argue that fair, balanced and professional judging can only add real value and prestige to awards that everybody in the industry will aspire to and respect.

And that can only come from within.

apparently you have to enter a writ to be considered - is this writ an independent piece or is the judging taken from an overview of journalism during the year? and what is the judging criteria anyway? - academic or content??? apart from this I cannot imagine there are many entries for this award? anyone know more?

what a load of shit thistleton deserves to win the title every year

perhaps there should be categories - best creative writer, best factual writer, best journalism....

Robyn has not said anything publicly about the treatment she received from the RA, so let me take it upon me to do that.
She may not agree that I'm going public, but I am her editor after all!

Robyn submitted her entries for the award on 2 August, by email, at 4.07pm.
I was copied on the email and received it at the same time.

On 8 August Robyn received this this reply:

Hi Robyn,
I’m just writing to let you know that your articles only arrived on my computer at 03h07 on Friday 3 August. I was very disappointed as I really enjoy your writing but thought I just had to let you know that it arrived too late.
Kind regards
Merle Parker

The RA did not reply to Robyn's next salvo, which read like this:

Hi Merle,

Thank you for the compliments on my writing and for the response about my submissions. Last year I was only notified the day before the awards so I am aware that it all gets decided very last minute, but as I hadn’t had any acknowledgement from your side by yesterday, I had made the assumption that I was not on the short list.

However, as a matter of principle I must insist that my submissions were sent in on time and are eligible - a power cut on your end is entirely beyond my control and therefore irrelevant as far as I am concerned. The entry requirements stated on the original notification are quite clear:-

All entries must be submitted to Racing Association:
• CLOSING DATE : 2 August 2011
• Submit to: merle@racingassociation.co.za.
Telephone: (011) 683-3220
Facsimile: (011) 683-3222
Postal: 14 Turf Club Street, Turffontein Racecourse, Johannesburg

As stated on the email that you forwarded back to me this morning (time and date stamp reproduced below and highlighted in yellow) it is very clear that my email was submitted to you on 2 August 2012 at 04:07PM.

From: Robyn Louw [mailto:robyn@racingmuseum.co.za]
Sent: 02 August 2012 04:07 PM
To: merle@racingassociation.co.za
Cc: deez.dayanand@racingsouthafrica.co.za; Karel Miedema; 'Kiki Miedema'
Subject: Equus Award for Print - Submissions from Robyn Louw

When you received them is not stated as part of the requirements and therefore not my concern.

Therefore I must insist that I fulfilled the entry requirements and that my submissions are valid.

Unless of course we’re being really pedantic in which case I should point out that the original closing date issued by yourselves is stated as being 2 August 2011 (last year), in which case I assume that all entries received for this year’s award should be deemed to have been received after the cut-off date and are therefore null and void ???

Either way. Whether Racing South Africa choose to consider my submissions or not is entirely beside the point. My main priority was to support the competition as I felt it important to do my bit to ensure that the minimum 10 entries were received in order to keep the award ‘live’. The racing media make a very valuable contribution and I feel it a matter of principle that this award is supported and maintained.

All the media contributors work very hard and therefore I am sure whoever wins will be a worthy recipient.

Yours sincerely,

Robyn


Of course, good luck to David for winning the Equus award, but I'm sure he would have liked to have known that the title defender was scratched from his race on a rather pedantic technicality.

Let's hope the RA will make the Rules more explicit in future.

Lets be honest,we would all be surprised if it was handled efficiently and/or in an unbiased way!
The only competence that exists in the racing industry,exists in the "independant" quarter........The operators and satelites are just a joke.

This is just awful.

How is it possible that they have a closing date, and only bother to check the next day? Who does that?

Where is the integrity? They have no shame.

Thank you for the post Karel also find it unprofessional on the part of the RA

When will the RA be a bit more professional, maybe when they hire more professional people. That pathetic self serving nepotistic disorganisation just seems to step in every dog turd they can find. I find Ms Louw's media contribution in both the racing forums and in the SP highly topical, interesting, amusing and unbiased.

It is becoming very clear that the RA CEO has a hand in this personal axe grinding vendetta, against any and all who have ever given a favourable word for any one that has ever opposed him.

Pathetic indeed!!!!!

Lacks class and respect (td)

It is of course unproffesional, but really imo the general public does not care about who wins - I think we all acknowledge that Robyn's articles are top class (not to say that Tipster's writings are not) so keep it up, Robyn (tu)

ah nooo, its like a scene from Fawlty Towers!!!