iDiski Times journalist Lorenz Köhler has been named SAFJA Journalist of the Year for his outstanding coverage of local football over the last year.
Everyone at iDiski Times is very proud of this outstanding achievement, and you can read the full statement from the SAFJA jury below:
For the second year running, the South African Football Journalists’ Association (Safja) has confirmed its winner for the prestigious journalist of the year award.
Lorenz Köhler, now with iDiski Times and formerly with Kick-Off, succeeds veteran scribe Matshelane Mamabolo and will be heading off to the upcoming 2022 Africa Women’s Nations Cup in Morocco next month courtesy of our sponsors Hollywoodbets.
He was nominated by his peers alongside Daniel Mothowagae (City Press) and Mpumi Manyisi (Soweto TV) – and the judges say it was a close race.
“Lorenz Köhler’s versatility in matters of research stole the hearts of judges and couldn’t stop raving about the story of Peter Shalulile, though it was a Q&A presentation, which is acceptable,” explained panel convener Matthews Mpete.
The judges also urged Safja members to increase the pool of nominees going forward as they believe the work done by the football journalists during the pandemic year has been notable given the restrictions they were operating under.
Safja chairman Velile Mnyandu congratulated Köhler and now expects extensive coverage of the Women’s Afcon in July.
“We would like to congratulate Lorenz, on being crowned as the second Safja journalist of the year. In our industry, there is no biggest honour than to be recognised by your colleagues, the people you spend most of your time with in search of quality stories,” he said.
“As part of our efforts at Safja, to inculcate the culture of football journalists who are proud of their continent and dedicate themselves to educating their readers, listeners or viewers about African football – we are happy that Lorenz will be in Morocco to cover the AWCON tournament in July, and we thank our partners Hollywoodbets for making this possible,”
Mnyandu also highlighted the time set aside by the judges to go through the work submitted by the three candidates.
“We would also like to thank our judges – seniors in our organization, for this great work. Once again as football journalists we continue to lead the way in sports journalism in the country and we hope that this will encourage other sectors as well,” he added.
