Leadership cleans up SA magazine ‘Oscars’ again

The 2010 MPASA PICA Awards took place on, Thursday, 11 November, at the Zip Zap Circus in Cape Town - considered the annual Oscars of the magazine industry.

This year saw the Magazine Publishers' Association of South Africa (MPASA) task Jonathan Harris, as chairman of the 2010 PICA Committee, and his team with a much-needed rethink around how the awards were judged and presented.

Harris has set out to align the PICAs with international standards by streamlining categories and revamping the judging process and panels. Last year saw 78 awards handed out, including those to runners-up and the highly commended.

This year, there were 2500 votes, 472 entries (up over 70% from last year), 23 judges and three chief judges.

The fear factor for all the entrants this year was that there were only 29 awards to be given across all sectors: consumer, custom and business.

Cape Media won three PICAs, two on the back of the incredible success of Leadership magazine (for Magazine of the Year - B2B and Editor of the Year - B2B for Robbie Stammers), and a third for best Annual Supplement or Special Issue of the Year for Leadership in Sport.

Leadership also walked away with two nominee places in the final four contenders for Best Cover of the Year and Best Overall Design of the Year 2010. This is the second year in a row that Leadership has taken the highest accolades in the Business publications sector.

With regards to Robbie Stammers taking the Best Editor of the Year for a second year in a row, the PICA judges said, “The magazine’s success is testament to Robbie’s involvement in the publication. He is an active participant in the strategic and publishing direction of Leadership magazine.”

Leadership’s Art Director, Brent Meder, was elated with the outcome of the awards evening and said, “The Leadership team was overjoyed with the accolades at this year’s PICAs. We were extremely nervous following the more stringent judging criteria put in place this year, so to walk away with even more awards than we received last year was an incredibly rewarding return for our efforts in 2010.”

Following its international Gold award at the Tabbies in the United States earlier this year (chosen as best business magazine in the world out of 500 global entries), Leadership have certainly proven that the name of its title definitely matches its stature in the magazine industry!

For more information or for interviews with the Editor-in- Chief; Robbie Stammers – please contact Tracy Mills on 021-6817000 or email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it