Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons of GroundUp took top honours at the 18th Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism for their explosive exposé of Thabo Bester’s escape from prison, a saga which has captured the attention of millions of South Africans across the country since the story broke in 2023.

“South Africans often comment that living in our country is like watching a movie. For months this is exactly how people felt when they saw updates in the ever-evolving saga of Thabo Bester,” said convenor of judges for the awards, Beauregard Tromp. “The journalists were given the tip-off by a board member at GroundUp, Justice Edwin Cameron, but did a tremendous amount of legwork in getting access to witnesses, CCTV footage, property records and a host of other evidence to build their sensational narrative.”

Click here to see guidelines for entry into the 2024/25 awards. The closing date is 24 February 2025 at 12H00.