Deadline for 2021 Galliova Awards entries is fast approaching

Despite the constantly changing local media landscape, the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) remains committed to supporting local media and hosting the annual Galliova Awards to honour excellence in South African food and health journalism. As such, the 2021 awards are on track, with entries closing in three weeks’ time.

Last year, the Galliova Awards were adapted to accommodate the impact of the pandemic on both the South African media sector and on the awards themselves. Entry criteria and award prizes were amended, and the Galliova Awards event – a renowned industry gathering that unites all role players – was held virtually.

This year the event will again be adjusted to suit the changing media industry and Covid-19 safety protocols. A virtual event will be held on 15 October 2021, for all entrants, where this year’s winners will be announced. It is hoped that in 2022, food and health journalists will be able to come together again and enjoy the full Galliova Awards experience.

Further changes to the entry criteria and prize allocation were made in 2021 by the SAPA board and Galliova judges. Full details of the amendments can be found on the SAPA website (http://www.sapoultry.co.za/home/galliova-awards.php).

As a long-time supporter of the South African media industry, SAPA is aware of the ongoing challenges facing this sector following the closure of several magazines in 2020 and the relaunching of certain tiles in 2021. By way of demonstrating its commitment to the industry in these challenging times, SAPA has allocated more than R136 000 in cash prizes for the 2021 Galliova Award winners.

The new award category piloted in 2020 for invited digital food influencers who host a popular digital food platform via a blog, Facebook or Instagram page, or all three, will be continued this year, and will now include cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Cash prizes will once again be awarded for the best food and health print articles (published between November 2020 and October 2021) and food and health online articles (published between November 2020 and August 2021) that meet the entry requirements of the four other awards categories.

Due to declining entries for the up-and-coming writer award, this category has not been included in 2021. It will, however, be reconsidered in future.

A high-calibre adjudication panel has been assembled to judge entries at an online event scheduled for the end of September. Three renowned food journalists and influencers representing a cross-section of South African cultures and with first-hand experience of excellent food journalism, will join two registered dietitians and two representatives of the egg and broiler sectors of SAPA on the panel.

This judging event forms a critical part of SAPA’s efforts to ensure transparency and fairness in the judging process. In addition, an inaugural online judges’ briefing will also be held this year, at the end of August, to clarify the ongoing changes in the media landscape, and awards criteria and scoring.

‘South African journalists are tenacious, and despite all the difficulties of the past 18 months, have persevered. We recognise this, and want to continue rewarding South Africa’s print and online writers through the Galliova Awards,’ says Aziz Sulliman, SAPA chairperson. ‘We have had to amend the awards to accommodate the changing media landscape, but we’re confident these changes will be well received by the industry, which continues to strive for excellence despite these challenging times.’