The awards recognize news publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major challenges in how people consume news and information today.
BBC News, The Wire, NDTV Hop, Arre, Sangbad Pratidin, Prothom Alo, The Hindu among winners of South Asian Digital Media Awards 2019.
Manoramaonline.com, the online news portal of Malayala Manorama, has bagged the WAN-IFRA South Asian Digital Media Award (SDMA) for the best news website for the year 2019. The digital version of Kerala based Malayala Manorama newspaper is one of the largest regional language news websites in India. Prior to this in 2016, Manoramaonline.com had won the award for the best news website at the WAN-IFRA World Digital Media Awards. In the best news website category the publisher also grabbed the second spot with its ‘Manorama Mobile’ offering.
The fourth edition of SDMAwards saw more than 80 entries from over 20 companies, which were evaluated by an international jury comprising of high ranked professionals from the media industry.
The award for the ‘Best News Startup’ went to The Wire (English) run by Foundation for Independent Journalism. The Wire also bagged gold in the ‘Best Use of Online Video’ category for its web series Sadak Se Sansad, that covered stories from 55 Lok Sabha constituencies across India.
Winners were chosen from 10 categories including Best Data Visualisation, Best Digital News Startup, Best Digital Project to Engage Younger/Millennial Audience, Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Website or Mobile Services, Best in Social Media Engagement, Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand, Best Native Advertising / Branded Content Campaign, Best News Website or Mobile Service, Best Paid Content Strategy (incl. pay wall, membership or crowd funding models) and Best Use of Online Video (including VR.)
Two categories – Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand and Best Native Advertising / Branded Content Campaign – saw the gold award being shared by two contestants each. Sangbad Pratidin’s Augmented Reality Face Filters during Durga Puja – ‘Pujor Face’ – fetched it the top position for best marketing campaign. It also won the bronze medal in the same category with its ‘#MaaClicks – No Selfie This Puja’ campaign. The Hindu’s ‘#UnderMyWatch’ campaign made it the other top scorer in the same category. The Hindu also emerged winner in the Best Paid Content Strategy with its ‘The Hindu+’ programme.
In Best Native Advertising category, Prothom Alo’s ‘Alor Poth’ bagged gold while ‘Shusthyotar Jonyo’ by ABP Pvt Ltd. took it to the top spot.
Winners in each category are as follows:
- Best Data Visualisation
Gold – BBC News – How many promises did the Narendra Modi government keep?
Silver – The Federal – Chandrayaan 2 mission
Bronze – Prothom Alo – Prothom Alo – Election Portal
- Best Digital News Startup
Gold – Foundation for Independent Journalism – The Wire English
Silver – The Federal
Bronze – ETV Bharat
- Best Digital Project to Engage Younger/Millennial Audience
Gold – NDTV Convergence – NDTV Hop
Silver – Sangbad Pratidin – Pujor Face – Augmented Reality Face Filters during Durga Puja
Bronze – BBC News – BBC’s Beyond Fake News Project
- Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Website or Mobile Services
Gold – Arre
Silver – The Hindu – Sportstar
- Best in Social Media Engagement
Gold – M M Publications Limited (Vanitha) – Ivide nalla vishesham campaign
Silver – BBC Media Action (India) Limited – #FlushKeBaad: A social media initiative for public awareness on faecal Sludge Management
Bronze – The Daily Star – Bangladesh in World Cup
- Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand
Gold – The Hindu – #UnderMyWatch
Gold – Sangbad Pratidin – Pujor Face – Augmented Reality Face Filters during Durga Puja
Silver – ABP Pvt Ltd – Santanan Dehi
Bronze – Sangbad Pratidin – #MaaClicks – No Selfie This Puja
- Best Native Advertising / Branded Content Campaign
Gold – Prothom Alo – Alor Poth
Gold – ABP Pvt Ltd – Shusthyotar Jonyo
Silver – Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd – The Bold Brunch
Bronze – Times Network Digital – Jan Nivesh
- Best News Website or Mobile Service
Gold – Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd – Manorama Online
Silver – Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd – Manorama Mobile
Bronze – Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd – The Quint
- Best Paid Content Strategy (incl. pay wall, membership or crowd funding models)
Gold – The Hindu – The Hindu+
Silver – Quintype – BQ Blue
Brozne – Vikatan – Appappo
10.Best Use of Online Video (including VR)
Gold – Foundation for Independent Journalism – The Wire – Sadak Se Sansad
Silver – BBC News – Ink of the Earth
Bronze – Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd – The Making of Lynchistan: Killing in the Name of the Cow
Bronze – BBC News – Hand in Hand: A story of faith and friendship at Kumbh
WAN-IFRA presents the awards in South Asia, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. The details of the awards and the winners (Hall of Fame) of the previous year are available online at www.wan-ifra.org/sdma.
ABOUT WAN-IFRA
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France and Frankfurt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India and Mexico City, is the global organisation of the world’s news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. www.wan-ifra.org.
Contact – Inquiries
For enquiries, please contact: Magdoom Mohamed, Managing Director, WAN-IFRA South, Chennai, India (magdoom.mohamed@wan-ifra.org) (or) Suresh Babu, Asst. Manager, WAN-IFRA South Asia, Chennai, India (sureshbabu.kr@wan-ifra.org)