South Africa’s Kick Off website has won the Best Entertainment and Lifestyle Website award at the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers World Digital Media Awards held in Vienna last night. The awards took place during the World Publishing Expo. And Men’s Health, also a Media24 title, won Best Entertainment & Lifestyle Mobile Service for Belly Off, the mobile payment app.
In a media release, WAN-Ifra said this year’s winning projects showed that innovation knows no boundaries, something that was never more evident than in this year’s winning projects of the World Digital Media Awards. More importantly, it said, it reaffirms that publishers can glean best practice from all corners of the globe, whether it is from Oman, South Africa, India, Mexico or Central Europe.
And the winners travelled near and far to Vienna to receive their awards at a gala dinner celebration Tuesday night after the second day of WAN-IFRA’s World Publishing Expo.
“We couldn’t believe that we won, to tell you the truth, because the project is so new and it’s a side product for us. But we are very, very happy,” said Ariel Tiferes, project leader for Muy Liebre from La Nacion in Argentina, which won Best New Product. Muy Liebre is a product for the millennial audience that works as a user-generated space for all social media platforms.
The World Digital Media Awards recognise publishers that have created ground-breaking digital products that engage readers while increasing online business.
The winners are drawn from WAN-IFRA regional digital media awards in Europe, Asia and Latin America and for the first time from India, Middle East and Africa. The awards are part of WAN-IFRA’s wide variety of awards programmes, designed to recognize and share best publishing cases across the global industry.
This year’s winners are:
1. Best News Website: Malayala Manorama Company Ltd, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Project: Manoramaonline.com, the hub for news in India.
2. Best Entertainment and Lifestyle Website: Media24, Cape Town, South Africa
Project: Kick Off, the magazine’s website that brings 24/7 coverage and information on football.
3. Best use of online video: Guardian News & Media, London, United Kingdom
Project: Building the Atom Bomb: the full story of the Nevada Test Site
4. Best Data Visualisation Project: Muscat Press and Publishing House SAOC, Muscat, Oman
Project: The dress styles to mark the 45th National Day of Oman
5. Best News Mobile Service: Clarín A.G.E.A. SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Project: Clarín Balotaje en Telegram, the messaging app service to cover the presidential election.
6. Best Entertainment & Lifestyle Mobile Service: Media24, Cape Town, South Africa
Project: Men’s Health – Belly Off, the mobile payment app about weight loss to build an alternative content and revenue stream.
7. Best in Tablet Publishing: WeltN24 GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Project: DIE WELT Edition, the new tablet edition to give its loyal audience a deep, lean-back reading experience.
8. Best Reader Engagement: Pictoline, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Project: Pictoline, the visual media company that produces winning visuals to share own social media platforms.
9. Best Digital Advertising Campaign: Quartz, London, United Kingdom
Project: Quartz/GE World in Motion, the partnership to create a global destination for GE storytelling and content discovery.
10. Best New Product: S.A. La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Project: MUY LIEBRE, the millennial-focused product powered by user-generated content for all social media platforms.
The World Publishing Expo and related events can be followed on the conference blog or on Twitter #wpe16.
