The School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) of Rhodes University is honouring seven of its most distinguished alumni at a Gala Dinner in Cape Town on Thursday, September 29. The event forms part of the school’s celebration of its 50th birth year and will be hosted by the university’s Vice Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela.
The seven honourees are Audrey Brown, Rebecca Davis, Ray Hartle, Leonie Joubert, Daneel Knoetze, Karyn Maughan, Minoshni Pillay and Alison Gillwald. They are among 50 graduates being celebrated by the school this year for their career excellence in their work as journalists and communicators.
In selecting these 50 achievers, the school focused on people who have accomplished important goals in their professional life, who have made significant contributions to their profession and whose work serves society more broadly.
To find these people, staff reviewed the list of more than 5 000 students who graduated from the school since its doors opened in the early 1970s. Alumni were also invited to nominate candidates and the final selection was based on these nominations and the motivations that came with them.
The Gala Dinner is one of four events hosted around South Africa this year. The first 10 alumni were awarded in April at the Rhodes University Graduation Ball in Makhanda. A further 24 award winners will attend a celebration on November 24 in Johannesburg. The School is also hosting a virtual event on October 27 to honour nine of the graduates who are based outside South Africa. All 50 honourees are invited to this virtual event.
In addition to the alumni awards, the school is hosting events this year in which the media and media educators are invited to participate in debates about the current state and future of South African journalism. This includes a colloquium entitled Decolonial Approaches to the Practice, Study and Teaching of Journalism, which is due to take place at the School from October 19 – 21 in commemoration of Media Freedom Day.
The programme will be launched on the evening of October 19 on televised debate, hosted in the School’s studio and broadcast nationally as part of a partnership with the SABC.
Debate panelists will include Professor Tawana Kupe, Vice Chancellor of the University of Pretoria and long-term colleague of the School of JMS; Dr Noxolo Grootboom, veteran public broadcaster who received an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University in 2021; Eusebius McKaiser, Rhodes alumnus and broadcaster, journalist and political analyst; and Sanele Ntshingana, JMS alumnus, emerging scholar and lecturer in at the School of Languages and Literatures of the University of Cape Town.
