Our reporter wins top award

By Shaanaaz de Jager

WEEKEND Post  senior reporter Yolandé Stander was rewarded for dynamic reporting at the national Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards when she won the Enterprise news category.

Her winning article, "Death over the Counter,” appeared in October 2011.

Following Stander’s exposé on pharmacies illegally selling schedule drugs to children without prescriptions, the South African Pharmacy Council  announced that it would launch an investigation that could potentially lead to pharmacies losing their licences.

Although she was unable to attend the awards ceremony in Johannesburg on Tuesday August 28, 2012 because she is on maternity leave, Stander, 28, was overjoyed to hear that she had won her category and she would receive R15 000.

"I am ecstatic. Winning was a big surprise. While I am pleased that my hard work paid off, I am especially happy that my story made a difference,” she said. Stander, who won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Eastern Cape Editor’s Choice Award last year, conducted a thorough investigation and follow-up article that quoted several experts who provided context for the story.

Editor of The Herald and Weekend Post Heather Robertson said she was thrilled by the national recognition Stander’s reportage had brought.

"I am very proud of Yolandé’s achievement. She is a truly enterprising and dogged reporter who leaves no stone unturned in her quest for the truth.”

This is a shortened version of an article that appeared in the print edition of the Weekend Post on Saturday, September 1, 2012.