The satirical animated online video series, ZANEWS, created by cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro and executive producer Thierry Cassuto, was deemed Newsmaker of the Year at the Financial Mail’s annual AdFocus Awards on 24 November in Johannesburg.
A profile of ZANEWS and its production company Both Worlds features in the AdFocus annual.
On 18 November in Cape Town, at the Digital Media and Marketing Association’s 2010 Bookmark Awards annual festival, Both Worlds received two highly coveted
trophies: one Gold Pixel for Best Video Programming among South Africa’s publishers and one Bronze Pixel for Best Online Video among agencies for the “Chicken to Change” music video produced in collaboration with Freshlyground.
Both Worlds was a finalist in five categories at these awards: best online video, best specialist digital publisher, best mixed-media project, best use of video/audio, and best blog.
Says Thierry Cassuto, MD of Both Worlds: “We are extremely proud of our team’s work, which stands out among the best in South Africa. Our pioneering work in the digital space was honored and deemed ‘world class’ by two international panels of judges in publisher and agency categories.”
In 2009, when the pilot programme for ZANEWS was lost in the SABC bureaucracy, Both Worlds began to pursue all possible ways to bring its fresh, provocative, satirical comedy to South African audiences via new media.
Both Worlds has been producing ZANEWS for digital and social entertainment online and mobile for just over one year now, thanks to the brave and steadfast support of airline kulula.com and others who have helped, including M&G online, WebAfrica, and Apple (Project 3 & Digicape).
ZANEWS is enjoyed by tens of thousands of fans daily on zanews.co.za, YouTube (now as South Africa’s #1 channel), and is also distributed and shared on Facebook, Twitter, TimesLive, M&G online, SowetanLive, Cape Town TV, Summit TV, as well as
on two special edition volumes released on DVDs nationwide.
ZANEWS has received numerous awards including a 2009 Prism for Best Sponsorship Programme, the 2010 Handspring Award for Puppetry, and the 2010 SABLOGAWARD for best video blog.
