The FCJ has the judges for the three categories – writing, photography and digital. The five judges who will select the writing category winners are Joe Thloloe (chairperson of the judging panel), Fanie Groenewald (convener of judges), Dr Thalyta Swanepoel, Henry Jeffreys and Johann de Jager. Well-known photographers Lefty Shivambu, Frennie Shivambu and Yolanda van der Stoep will judge the photography sections. Industry experts Izak Minnaar and Dinesh Balliah will judge the digital journalist of the year.
Thloloe is an executive director in the Press Council of South Africa. Before that, he was the Press Ombudsman in the council for five years. Thloloe has been in the media industry for more than fifty years, starting in 1961 on the World newspaper. President Jacob Zuma has honoured Thloloe with an iKhamanga in Silver Award. The South African National Editors’ Forum, Print and Digital Media South Africa and the Nieman Society of South Africa honoured him with the Nat Nakasa Award for courage and integrity in journalism. He has contributed extensively to journalism training and the development of the media industry in South Africa.
Groenewald, an ex-journalist at Beeld and former teacher, was a lecturer at the department of journalism, Tshwane University of Technology from 1995 until his retirement in June 2012. He is an experienced adjudicator of press competitions, including the Oscar Frewin Awards of the Middelburg/eMalahleni Caxton group, the Caxton Awards, the LIN Awards of the independent community newspapers in Limpopo and the MDDA/Sanlam Local Media Awards. He is a member of the panel of adjudicators of the Press Council of South Africa.
Dr Swanepoel is a lecturer at the North-West University (NWU) Potchefstroom campus where she specialises in journalism and media relations in the classroom, and provides study supervision to several MA and honours students. From 2009 to 2015, she joined the faculty at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, as director of the journalism programme.
She has authored / co-authored chapters in two textbooks, several articles in national and international academic journals, read papers at conferences in South Africa and abroad, participated in research panels and conducted guest lectures, workshops and training sessions in a variety of settings.
Jeffreys is a former (and the first black) editor-in-chief of the Cape Town-based Afrikaans daily Die Burger (2006-2009) and the founding editor-in-chief of The New Age (2010-2011). Jeffreys started his journalism career at the Johannesburg-based Afrikaans daily Beeld in the 1980s, but left journalism in 1986. He returned to journalism in 1999 as deputy editor and political editor of Beeld. He was awarded the Nieman Fellowship in 2004 and attended Harvard University. He served as both deputy chairperson (two respective terms) and chairperson of the South African National Editor’s Forum. He currently works as a freelance journalist, public commentator and strategist.
De Jager is a retired professor of journalism. He started lecturing in practical journalism in January 1973 at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University and worked at the university for 12 years. While in Potchefstroom, he was the part-time news and sub-editor of the Herald newspapers. In January 1986, he was appointed as head of publicity at the HSRC. From May 1988, he worked for Volkskas Bank and then the Absa Group until his retirement in December 2008. From June 2009 to the end of December 2015 he lectured in corporate communication at the NWU Mafikeng campus and in journalism at the TUT Soshanguve North campus.
Sports Photographer of the Year 2005 and 2011, Lefty Shivambu and his wife, Frennie Shivambu, who both work for South Africa's biggest photo agency Gallo Images, are two of the three photography judges for the FCJ Excellence Awards. The pair have covered everything from the Soccer World Cup to the South African Music Awards.
Prior to becoming a professional photographer, van der Stoep worked in the community newspaper industry for over 20 years, hence understands the challenges faced by local newspaper photographers. She presently works for clients such as Cell C, Peermont Global, Tsogo Sun, Sun International, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Adopt-a-School Foundation and is also the official pageant photographer for Miss SA.
Minnaar is an editor, journalist and editorial manager, specialising in digital media and journalism training. He is currently Editor: Digital News at the SABC. He previously worked in the print media as chief sub and deputy news editor and was in charge of the SABC's TV news magazine programmes (including Good Morning South Africa on SABC2) in the early nineties. He is a member of the South African National Editor's Forum (Sanef), the IABSA Publisher Council and the Press Council of South Africa.
Balliah a lecturer in the department of Journalism at Wits University in the area of new and social media. She is also deputy public advocate on the South African Press Council. She is also engaged in research towards a PhD in Journalism with a focus on newsroom convergence and the impact on journalism practice in South Africa. Her specialties include online media research, policy-making, marketing and publicity; media history and general South African media law; new media history and law, contemporary debates in new media law and policy-making.
