SA cameraman takesleads at the News very own Oscars...

South African is in a league of its own as our own people such as this lucky man Garwen McLuckie, who won a Camera Operator of the Year at the Royal TV Society Awards.

He had some great stories to tell as a camera man about all the people he has met like former SA President Nelson Mandela, Prince Charles, the Princes of Wales Harry and William and even had tea with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

"We are so hated in Zim for some strange reason as British reporters but Mugabe never showed it to our faces at all, but I have been to over 30 African countries and met really great people despite all the almost death experiences I have had," said McLuckie.

I think SA deserved this all the way, three cheers to McLuckie.

READ what I wrote in The Times:

SOUTH African TV cameraman Garwen McLuckie has gone from dodging bullets in Somalia filming the collapse of Zimbabwe to being crowned Camera Operator of the Year at the Royal TV Society Awards in the UK.

The South African born Sky News camera operator and engineer walked away with the prestigious award on Thursday for his work between 2007 and last year.

“These awards are like the Oscars of news awards. I never thought I would take it because I was up against greats like Raul Gallego Abellan of Associated Press Television News and Stuart Webb of Channel 4 News ITN.

“Hearing my name was such a surprise. I danced and ran to that stage and thanked everyone from Sky and my family.

“Even now I am not over it yet,” he said from his Johannesburg home.

The award honours McLuckie’s extensive work in filming the breakdown of society in Zimbabwe, the tribal slaughter that followed the disputed elections in Kenya and the latest famine to hit Ethiopia.

He was nominated for an Emmy award in 2003 and last year at the RTS, but did not win.

“T his was my time ,” he said.

McLuckie is now looking forward to covering the South African elections and said he hopes this year he will get to shake hands with Madiba.