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 2021 being marked by record industry voting. Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) conducted the industry-wide MOST survey, with results reviewed by BDO.
The winners of the 12th MOST Awards were announced during an online, live-streamed awards ceremony on 8 September 2021. AdColony was named as Media Owner of the Year for a third time, while The MediaShop (Johannesburg) claimed its eighth Media Agency of the Year Award. The Media Owner of the Year and Media Agency of the Year awards are sponsored by Mediology and Jacaranda FM respectively.
Individual and special award winners 2021
Nominations for the individual awards were made via an online survey, where respondents put forward their favourites. An adjudication panel of 13 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 ViacomCBS Africa) is respected researcher, Beatrice Kubheka.
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 Fahmeeda Cassim-Surtee, CEO of DStv Media Sales.
CEO of Mediamark and AMASA Board Director, Wayne Bischoff, received the Media Owner Legend Award (sponsored by The MediaShop). The Media Agency Legend Award (sponsored by Mediamark) went to Merissa Himraj, MD of Wavemaker South Africa.
The Media Owner Rising Star Award (sponsored by Carat) was awarded to Skhumbuzo Mokoena of DStv Media Sales, while Jamie Norgarb of PHD received the Media Agency Rising Star Award (sponsored by Black Media Outdoor).
Brad Aigner, Managing Director of FGI said, ‘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 2021. The winner of this year’s award (sponsored by Torque Media) is DStv Media Sales.
DStv Media Sales also received the special Virtually Perfect Service Award (sponsored by Nalesa Media) in recognition of the changing media sales environment as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown. The award looks to recognise a sales team that took a firm grip on ‘business unusual’ by making clients feel like it was ‘business as usual’ through the innovative and effective use of virtual practices.
Category award winners 2021
Media owners
– Media Owner of the Year Award (sponsored by Mediology) – winner: AdColony. Second and third places went to Primedia Outdoor and Relativ Media respectively.
– Radio Award winner: Primedia Broadcasting.
– Broadcast Award winner: e.tv.
– Out Of Home Award winner: Primedia Outdoor.
– Digital Award (sponsored by Mercurial Media) winner: AdColony.
– Print Award winner: Arena Holdings.
– Multimedia Award winner: Primedia.
– Media Sales Consultants Award (sponsored by Ebony+Ivory) winner: Ultimate Media.
– Media Owner Lamb Award winner: Media24 Lifestyle.
Media agencies
– Media Agency of the Year Award (sponsored by Jacaranda FM) winner: The MediaShop (Johannesburg). Second and third places went to Carat (Johannesburg) and Vizeum (Johannesburg) respectively.
– Specialist Media Agency Award (sponsored by YFM) winner: Ogilvy Go Media.
– Full-Service Media Agency Award (sponsored by Primedia Broadcasting) winner: The MediaShop (Johannesburg).
– Media Agency Lamb Award (sponsored by DStv Media Sales) winner: The MediaShop (Cape Town).
MOST AWARDS 2021
https://arenaevents.africa
