Investigative journalism was rewarded when the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism received a top award for exposing hundreds of thousands of confidential emails that helped pave the way for the inquiry into State Capture.
The National Press Club named the Gupta Leaks as the 2017 Newsmaker of the Year.
"The decision to name the Gupta Leaks as the newsmaker was not an easy one as we saw so many different themes in the 2017 news cycle," said National Press Club chairperson, Jos Charle.
The Gupta Leaks consist of between 100 000 and 200 000 emails which revealed how the controversial family did business in South Africa and their engagements with the State and politicians.
"AmaBhugane played a vital role in securing, analysing, and disseminating a vast amount of crucial information. In the process they partnered with other media entities, such as Daily Maverick and News24, to make the information public," said Charle.
"It was a huge responsibility that amaBhungane dealt with in an admirable way. It was an enormous task, but they packaged the information in a way that it made sense to ordinary South Africans," he said.
Charle said the Gupta Leaks made an unprecedented impact on the South African news scene and will continue to dominate news headlines.
"The Gupta Leaks was a game changer in our country's history and will still feature in parliamentary enquiries, court cases and the judicial commission of enquiry into state capture".
Charle said another strong contender for the 2017 Newsmaker of the Year was: the ANC, its 54th elective conference and presidential candidates Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
