Limpopo Mirror wins World Young Reader prize

MAKHADO – The Limpopo Mirror, sister newspaper of the Zoutpansberger, has achieved the almost unthinkable by becoming the joint winner of the World Young Reader Prize for its series of educational supplements that appeared in 2004. The series of little booklets, published under the title “Science of Life”, also appeared in the Zoutpansberger and was distributed to thousands of school children.

The prize will be handed over on September 19 during the sixth World Young Readers congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The congress is held under the auspices of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). WAN awards the World Young Reader Prize annually to the newspaper or newspapers that devise the most innovative projects to develop young readership. The other winner is the Irish Independent, Ireland’s biggest daily with a circulation of 177 000 copies per day. This paper did a highly creative science supplement project, called Eureka.

Sixteen editions of the Science of Life supplements were published in the Limpopo Mirror and Zoutpansberger in the second half of 2004. The supplements were designed to improve literacy and numerical skills for grades 1 through 3, but were even used up to grade 7 by students for whom English was not their first language, and for whom extra educational material is difficult to obtain. Sponsors were found to distribute additional copies to 28 schools in the region. These newspapers were used in the classrooms as a teaching aid. The person who compiled the material, Mrs Bennie Barker, also conducted a series of workshops for teachers explaining to them how the material can be used effectively in the classroom.

We are the second South African newspaper to win this competition. In 1999, the Sunday Times won it with their ReadRight series of educational supplements. Last year, the Western Australian and the Indian Times were the joint winners. As far as could be established, it is the first time ever that such a small newspaper group wins this prize. The judges commented on this by saying: "The comparison between the two approaches (Irish Independent and Limpopo Mirror) clearly demonstrates that newspapers of all sizes can have a significant effect on their young and future readers."

The organisers of the competition were full of praise for the efforts of the South African paper, commenting that:

“You faced tough competition from around the world, but your science project, Science of Life, clearly emerged at the top because of its creativity, evidence of commitment to the young, effective use of sponsorships and the way you used technology to give anyone, anywhere, access to your materials.”

The fact that the Science of Life was also made available in digital format, clearly impressed the judges. The sixteen booklets were made available free of charge as downloads from the newspaper group’s website (www.zoutnet.co.za).

Three other papers received special commendations for their projects entered in the World Young Reader Prize. La Prensa of Panama received a Jury Commendation and special mention awards went to The Hindustan Times in India and to The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey, in the United States.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers. Its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

Date:26 August 2005

By: Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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