SU Journalism alumna wins Best Breakfast Show at Liberty Radio Awards

The Kfm morning show with Darren Simpson, Sherlin Barends and Sibongile Mafu won the award for the Best Commercial Breakfast Show at the 2018 Liberty Radio Awards. Barends is an alumna of the Stellenbosch Journalism faculty and started her presenting career at the local campus radio station, MFM 92.6.

The award winners were announced on Saturday night at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

Barends said she and her team were excited that they won the award, but that their main focus is on creating engaging and informative content on a consistent basis.

“We don’t do radio for the awards, but it is an amazing feeling being recognized by the industry and your peers. Darren, Sibs and I were strangers eight months ago. Today, we host an awards winning radio show! It’s special.” she said.

Sherlin Barends and Sibongile Mafu from the KFM Morning show holding their Best Breakfast Show award. PHOTO: Twitter, @KFMza.

Barends began her radio career at MFM 92.6 in 2011 and completed her Journalism Honours degree in 2014.

“I started at MFM in my second year as a Matie and they taught me most of what I know about the industry. I would advise anyone who wants to learn and fall in love with the medium to approach a campus and community station,” she said.

Last year MFM 92.6 won both the Best Campus Breakfast Show and the Campus Station of the Year. This year they were nominated in eight categories, however, they did not win an award.

Veronique Smal, the MFM station manager said: “We didn’t win this year, but we are extremely proud of our presenters who were nominated and that the station was recognized. We will still keep our heads held high and be proud of what we do, because even being nominated is a big achievement”.

MFM 92.6 was nominated for the following: