Issued by: Magazine Publishers Association of SA (MPASA)
Magazine publishers and their teams around South Africa should prepare for one of the most prestigious PICA Awards in years. This year will see the Magazine Publishers' Association of South Africa (MPASA) present the 41st Annual PICA Awards in what the PICA committee promises to be the biggest and best that this industry has ever seen.Once again PICA will recognise and reward publishing excellence in the consumer, customer and business-to-business sectors of the South African magazine publishing industry, but 2010 will also see some important changes to the awards - this is according to Jonathan Harris, Chairman of the 2010 PICA Committee.

According to Harris, who has had very strong views about what the event should be like, PICA is going to be a special event this year. "Having carefully reviewed the PICA Awards of previous years, the committee and I have decided to completely unpack the judging process, which forms the cornerstone of the entire event," says Harris. "We did this with one goal in mind - to align the PICA Awards with international standards, and I am confident that the 2010 event will set the standard for publishing excellence in this context," he added.

Harris believes that the PICA Awards needs to be reflective of the media mindset. "With some of the best talent in South African publishing in attendance at the awards, we need to adequately reflect this and give the PICA Awards even greater status and prestige," says Harris. "Not only have we unpacked the judging process, but we've developed a more streamlined entry process; identified first-rate judging panels; and agreed that each and every entrant will receive feedback on their entry so that they can benchmark themselves against their peers."

In terms of the event itself, publishers should mark 11 November 2010 in their diaries now, for a star-studded evening at the Zip Zap Circus Venue in Cape Town. Riaad Moosa will be the evening's MC with entertainment provided by one of South Africa's top hip hop stars HHP, internationally acclaimed African Drums and performances from the Zip Zap crew. The evening will then wrap up with an after-party at the venue hosted by a yet to be revealed top radio DJ.

"Sure, we are looking for the country's most innovative publishers, but it is high time we started more clearly defining what we mean by publishing excellence. I think this year we have gone a long way in achieving this and it's also time we celebrated the cream of our industry in the way that they deserve, with a night to really enjoy," concludes Harris.
Entries open 23 July. Watch this space for more information on the awards and the entry process.