The three category winners of the COSAFA Cup 2015 media competition have been announced with each walking away with a R10 000 prize, courtesy of Castle Lager and COSAFA.

The awards have been introduced to reward excellence in the field of journalism and photography and judging was predictably difficult this year with a number of outstanding entries from all across Southern Africa.

Written press: Reginaldo Cumbana (Desafi, Mozambique). Reginaldo provided extensive coverage of the event for Portuguese language sports publication Desafi in Mozambique. His news-gathering and analysis was outstanding, long before his home nation entered the competition in the quarter-finals.

TV/Radio: Velile Mbuli (SABC Radio, South Africa). Velile offered news and insight on the COSAFA Cup 2015 for 18 radio stations across South Africa, touching on the key issues and providing listeners with the most relevant audio of the day.

Photographers: Hesron Kapanga (Namibia Press Agency). Although a reporter and photographer, it was the image captured by Hesron of Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti celebrating with fans that illustrated the Brave Warriors’ superb run to the final of the competition.

“We would like to congratulate not only the winners of the three categories, but all media who submitted their work for consideration. The standard was extremely high and that bodes well for the future of sports journalism in Southern Africa. We thank the media for their input and to Castle Lager for partnering with us in these awards,” says Sue Destombes – Secretary General – COSAFA.

The decision of the judging panel is final and no correspondence will be entered into. All 3 winners will be contacted by the COSAFA media office to arrange transfer of their cash prizes.