The MOST Awards celebrate excellence in the media industry – from media owners across print, digital, cinema, broadcast and out of home (OOH) platforms, through to specialist and full-service media agencies – encouraging exceptional service delivery and healthy professional competition. Category winners were determined by their peers, with 2022 being marked by record industry voting. Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) conducted the industry-wide MOST survey, with results reviewed by independent auditor, BDO.

Individual and special award winners 2022

Nominations for the individual awards were made via an online survey, where respondents put forward their favourites. An adjudication panel of 12 industry professionals judged the nominations against specific criteria, for the prestigious individual Bell, Shepherd, Legend and Rising Star awards.

The Bell Award honours an individual who, though not working for a media owner or agency, has made an exceptional contribution to the betterment of the media sector. This year, the recipient of the Bell Award (sponsored by Paramount Africa) is respected researcher, Peter Langschmidt.

The Shepherd Award is awarded to someone who not only has a significant presence in the media industry, but also selflessly gives back to it. The recipient of this year’s Shepherd Award (sponsored by Arena Holdings) is Chris Botha, Group Managing Director of Park Advertising.

Head of Advertising Sales at Arena Holdings, Eben Gewers, received the Media Owner Legend Award (sponsored by The MediaShop). The Media Agency Legend Award (sponsored by Mediamark) went to Gwen Bezuidenhout, Group Media Account Director at FCB JHB.

The Media Owner Rising Star Award (sponsored by Carat) was awarded to Refiloe Nteso of DStv Media Sales, while Clare Trafankowska of iProspect received the Media Agency Rising Star Award (sponsored by YFM).

Brad Aigner, Managing Director of FGI says: “The quality of nominations for the Legend and Rising Star awards was phenomenal. It was very encouraging to see so many new names of up-and-coming young people in our industry being put forward.”

The Marketing Services Award which recognises trade marketing excellence from media owners also received record industry support in 2022. The winner of this year’s award (sponsored by Digital Turbine, formerly AdColony) is Mediamark.

For the second year in a row, DStv Media Sales also received the special Virtually Perfect Service Award (sponsored by Nalesa Media) in recognition of the changing media sales environment.

Category award winners 2022

  • Media Owners
    • Media Owner of the Year Award (sponsored by Mediology) – winner: Media24 Lifestyle Magazines. Second and third places went to ECR Radio Sales and Digital Turbine, formerly AdColony respectively.
    • Radio Award (sponsored by Torque Media) – winner: ECR Radio Sales
    • Audiovisual Award – winner: Ster-Kinekor Sales
    • Out Of Home Award – winner: Primedia Outdoor
    • Digital Award – winner: Digital Turbine, formerly AdColony
    • Print Award – winner: Media24 Lifestyle Magazines
    • Multimedia Award – winner: Media24
    • Media Sales Consultants Award (sponsored by Ebony+Ivory) – winner: Whisper Media
    • Media Owner Lamb Award (sponsored by Spark Media) – winner: Reveel
  • Media Agencies
    • Media Agency of the Year Award (sponsored by Jacaranda 94.2FM) – winner: Fame Media. Second and third places went to PHD and The MediaShop – Johannesburg respectively.
    • Specialist Media Agency Award (sponsored by GH Media Group) – winner: Fame Media
    • Full-Service Media Agency Award (sponsored by Primedia Broadcasting) – winner: PHD
    • Media Agency Lamb Award (sponsored by DStv Media Sales) – winner: IntiMedia

Sponsors of the 2022 MOST Awards are Jacaranda FM, Primedia Broadcasting, GH Media, Gagasi FM, Dstv Media Sales, Spark Media, Paramount Africa, Mediamark, The Mediashop, Arena Holdings, Carat, YFM, Nalesa Media, Torque Media, Ebony+Ivory, Digtial Turbine – formerly AdColony, Kaya FM, Mediology, Cape Talk, 702, 947, EWN, Kfm and the Media Online

The Media Most Awards special edition, featuring all the winners, will be available at www.themediaonline.co.za