A trio of veteran sports journalists have won the annual Sasol Springbok Media Awards, which recognise excellence in reporting on Springbok rugby.

Louis de Villiers of Rapport won the Springbok Rugby Writer of the Year award in the category of Print and Internet Media; Duif du Toit of Gallo Images was named the Photographer of the Year and Matt Pearce of SuperSport was crowned as the Broadcaster of the Year when the Sasol awards were announced at a function held in Johannesburg on Friday, October 23.

Sasol instituted the awards five years ago to acknowledge the outstanding and dedicated work done by the media in covering the exploits of the Springboks. The judges commented that it was apt that three long-time professionals were honoured in what was an illustrious year for South African rugby - with a series victory over the British & Irish Lions as well as a comprehensive win in the Vodacom Tri-Nations.

Louis de Villiers, with his unique style and way with words, has become part of the fabric of Springbok rugby in the way he entertains his readers; Duif du Toit has long been known as the man to get the right picture at the right moment and this year snapped arguably the defining image of the Springbok year; and Matt Pearce is a former Editor of Sports Illustrated who has realised his dream of becoming a commentator by climbing to the top of the ranks with his thorough research, command of the language, genuine love of the game and smooth delivery.

In addition to the main awards the judges also recognised others who narrowly missed out on claiming the top prize.

In the Print and Internet Media category, Mike Greenaway of the Independent Group, a former winner of the Sasol award, again stood out for his thorough knowledge of the game and wide-ranging reporting, whilst rugby365 editor Jan de Koning was again recognised - as he was last year - for the great depth and thoroughness of his work on the www.rugby365.com and sport.iafrica.com websites.

In the Photography category, the standard was once again extremely high with last year's winner Craig Nieuwenhuizen of Rapport and the award-winning Etienne Rothbart of The Star just missing out on the main prize, but earning merit awards for their entries.

In the category of Broadcasting, former Bok No.8 Bob Skinstad's significant debut as a commentator on SuperSport was recognised while Johan Coetzee, Ryan Toerien and Skinstad of the new RugbyZone website, a sister site to the SuperSport Zone, received a special prize for their programmes entitled 'The Skinny' - a series of short video clips in an informal magazine format, making use of the vitality of social media sites such as YouTube to reach a wider rugby audience.

The Sasol award winners were as follows:

Print and Internet Media
Winner — Louis de Villiers (Rapport/Media 24)
Runners-up — Mike Greenaway (The Mercury/Independent Group), Jan de Koning (rugby365.com/iafrica.com)

Photography
Winner — Duif du Toit (Gallo Images)
Runners-up — Etienne Rothbart (The Star), Craig Nieuwenhuizen (Rapport)

Broadcasting
Winner — Matthew Pearce (SuperSport)
Runner-up — Bob Skinstad (SuperSport)
Special prize — Johan Coetzee/Bob Skinstad/Ryan Toerien (jointly RugbyZone.com)

A full photo gallery from the awards to follow on Monday.