A star among us

This week, the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) celebrated the largest Motoring Journalist of the Year competition to date, with a gala function held on November 23, at the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton, Gauteng. The awards were made possible by long-serving sponsor Toyota Financial Services.

Our very own Gavin Myers, assistant editor of FOCUS, won the individual Road Safety Feature of the Year award. This is a stand-alone award, which sought a feature that, at its core, promotes road safety and responsible road usage to a wider audience.

There were no specific criteria as to the nature of the feature (investigative versus technical, for example), but it needed to be concise, informative and appealing to the man on the street.

According to the SAGMJ: “This feature is informative, factual and well researched. It is a journalistic eye-opener. This well-informed writer has an obvious passion for road safety with an easy-to-read writing style.”

Charleen Clarke, editor of FOCUS, comments: “We are absolutely thrilled with the news and would like to congratulate Gavin on this tremendous accolade. He is a very talented writer and, as assistant editor of FOCUS, he is a valued and integral part of our team.

“I think it is especially significant that Gavin was lauded for writing about road safety. As we all know, this is a subject that is of the utmost importance in South Africa. It is also a subject that is very close to Gavin’s heart, and he writes about it regularly, and with great passion. I believe that it is this passion that has shone through in his writing, earning him this sought-after award. Well done Gavin!”