[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][MEDIA RELEASE] 4 September 2015 – Did the deadline for the Arts Journalist Awards pass you by? Maybe you were hesitant to submit your work because you write in a language other than English? Well, if you are an arts writer, broadcaster or photographer in traditional media or publishing online, you have been given a reprieve. We have judges on the panel to judge all languages, and the deadline for entries has been extended to Friday, 11 September 2015.

The National Arts Festival and Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) are encouraging all journalists working in the arts and culture sector to enter the third annual 2015 South African Arts Journalist of the Year Awards (SAAJAs).

‘We have had many exciting entries so far. But know from messages we have received that some people didn’t make the cut-off date,’ says Gwen Ansell convener of the judges’ panel. ‘To draw in the widest possible range of entries, we have decided to extend the date.’

Arts writers working in mainstream, independent or community media may submit as entries portfolios of work or individual items published between 1 January 2014 and 31 July 2015. Competition categories span news, feature and review work, published in either written (print or online), photographic, multimedia or audio formats.

‘We are seeking a diversity of voices from a diversity of platforms,’ says Ansell. ‘This year, we are particularly keen to see bloggers broadcasters and community arts journalists entering alongside the writers normally showcased on conventional newspaper arts pages.’

You can nominate yourself, but it’s also open to editors, colleagues or readers to nominate an arts writer they admire, and for arts publications to enter their brand.

• Find full details of how to enter or nominate work for the awards, along with more information about categories and criteria at www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/artsjourn
• Closing date for entries is 11 September 2015. Judging will take place during September, and winners will be announced later this year.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) is an internationally recognised South African development agency with a suite of integrated programmes implemented nationally and internationally. Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts, contributing to corporate success and securing the future development of the arts sector in South Africa. Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector as a public/private partnership.

• For more, see www.basa.co.za
• Follow @basa_news on Twitter

The National Arts Festival is an important event on the South African cultural calendar, and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent. Next year the Festival will run from 30 June to 10 July 2016 in the small university town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. The programme comprises drama, dance, physical theatre, comedy, opera, music, jazz, visual art exhibitions, film, student theatre, street theatre, lectures, craft fair, workshops, tours (of the city and surrounding historic places) as well as a children’s arts festival. As no censorship or artistic restraint has ever been imposed on works presented in Grahamstown, the Festival served as an important forum for political and protest theatre during the height of the apartheid era, and it continues to offer an opportunity for experimentation across the arts spectrum. Its significance as a forum for new ideas and an indicator of future trends in the arts cannot be underestimated.

• For more, see www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
• Follow @artsfestival on Twitter

ISSUED BY: The Famous Idea
CONTACT: Gilly Hemphill
EMAIL: info@thefamousidea.co.za
TEL: 011 706 8153
CELL: 082 820 8584
ON BEHALF OF: THE NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL, GRAHAMSTOWN
WEBSITE: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]