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South Asian Digital Media Awards 2022 winners announced

2023-01-30. The Quint, The Hindu, Prothom Alo, and Indian Express emerged as the 2022 South Asian Digital Media Awards winners, from more than 100 entries from news publishers across South Asia.

by Vincent Peyrègne vincent.peyregne@wan-ifra.org | January 30, 2023

The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) announced the winners of the South Asian Digital Media Awards 2022, the sixth edition of digital media awards for South Asia. These prestigious awards recognise the outstanding digital media projects delivered by news publishers from across the region. An eminent panel of international judges evaluated the entries. 

The 2022 edition saw news publishers competing under 13 categories for “Gold,” “Silver” and “Bronze” awards. The “Gold” winners automatically enter WAN-IFRA’s World Digital Media Awards competition. 

And the winners are:

Best News Website

One jury member noted: This (website) continues to be a strong, independent journalistic voice, that genuinely experiments with formats and storytelling, and feels deeply digital. Another juror commented: Impressive range of offerings and formats that will cater to many types of readers. While the design is clean, it offers quite a lot for the reader/browser. The format of explainers in 5 cards is useful for people who don’t want to be overwhelmed by information. And another juror said: It is a refreshing offering, having a daily live chat with anchors. And the integration of vertical video is something that more publications should take inspiration from as they look to appeal to people who don’t have time to read a long article.

Best Use of Video

A juror said: Nice, gentle structure with good narrative reveal and pace. Beautifully shot and edited. I felt like it could have benefitted from some graphics.

Best Newsletter

One jury member commented: Heartened to see the commitment to Morning Expresso for 2.5 years, the liveliness and variety of the offering, and the impressive array of other newsletters. Another juror said: This is an excellent entry – congratulations!

Best Data Visualisation

A jury member said: A really important and newsworthy topic given an alternative treatment to make it visually arresting, informative and easy to understand. The treatment makes the content stand out (rather than taking second stage to the design). Another juror noted: Thorough, insightful and definitive. Superb use of graphics to tell a difficult story. The following juror mentioned: Outstanding, important reporting. The data visualisation is highly compelling, easy to understand and engage with. Congratulations to this team for first-rate work that can serve as a model for newsrooms around the world.

Best Digital Subscription Initiative

A juror commented: A very strong entry that demonstrates clear goals that the project has delivered on. Very solid numbers that are well documented. Another juror said: Well stipulated and forward-looking strategies for long-term growth of the initiative. A third juror said: The initiative has high engagement, and pretty good growth.

Best Trust Initiative

One juror noted: What an inspirational set of ambitions conveyed clearly. A real winner. A second juror said: This is valuable work – media for women and by the women of Afghanistan. The teaching and mentoring component are an important aspect of this project and of the future of journalism in Afghanistan. A third jury member commented: It’s a brave and important effort under difficult conditions. It obviously fills an important gap in the media space in Afghanistan and provides needed information from a point of view that is under-represented – that of women.

Best Podcast

One juror said: An outstanding entry – congratulations. I did want to know more about your business strategy for the podcast i.e. how you are marketing/cross-promoting it and how you plan to make it financially sustainable as an editorial product. A second juror said: Near flawless entry – congratulations. Curious about the business strategy/future growth of this podcast product. A third juror commented: High quality, good consistency, impressive metrics and meets a specific audience need.

Best in Audience Engagement

A juror said: Great piece, well shot, nicely graded, with fabulous performances and beautifully structured, just maybe a little too long.

Best ePaper-Concept

One juror commented:  An intelligent digital first approach that increases community and recognises how the audience consumes content. Having reader accessible quizzes provides a key relationship otherwise missing from many digital experiences. Very strong candidate. Another juror said:This is a great example of how print products can be diversified and where the brand has leveraged their understanding of product-market fit. I like how ‘Learning Corner’ gamifies learning, and acts as a tool for deepening engagement. And a third juror noted: Some great results! An interesting extension of the print offering with clear goals.

Best Digital Advertising Project

Said one juror: This campaign has used several approaches from affiliate marketing, celebrity influencers to creating lifestyle pieces that resonate with the target audience – all while weaving in the convenience of cashless payment powered by the brand partner. It’s a well strategised digital advertising campaign. Another noted: This is a big, high-impact campaign, which drives healthy media results. I like how the team combined editorial content with influencer marketing and social extension in their strategy. It’s a very clever use of ‘full funnel’ marketing with upper-funnel awareness driven by inspiring content that then links through to conversions through the affiliate strategy. A very good campaign, huge congratulations.

Best special project for COVID-19 / Pandemic Reporting

Said one juror: I really liked this video series. It represented an important byproduct of the pandemic. A second juror mentioned: Good to highlight a consequence of the pandemic, the girls who were impacted such that they had to give up their schooling and presumably part of their childhood. The third juror said: Smart newsroom innovation that got crucial information out there to a wide audience, and a blueprint for the future of the media org.

Best Use of Short Form Video

Best Native Advertising / Sponsored Content Campaign

One juror noted: Any commercial content campaign running in a ninth season is to be commended. Congratulations for showing their client immense value through the campaign. In addition to its impressive ambassadorship, the stories affiliated with the campaign are heartfelt and meaningful. All good native advertising should be able to stand alone editorially – and these certainly do. May this partnership last another nine seasons, and more! Another juror said: An impressive full-funnel solution that utilises an omni-channel approach to branded content. I commend the team for their strategic approach to the project. Each tactical execution showed value to the user and advertiser alike, resulting in impact for the client. Bravo!

Update:

The Quint was adjudged the SDMA 2022 Champion Publishers of the year based on the overall number of gold, silver and bronze won by them at the awards.

The winners were awarded at the Digital Media india 2023 event at Delhi.

The historial winner details of the previous editions are available at South Asian Digital Media Awards webpage.

 

Panel of Jury 

The entries were evaluated by an international panel of jury that included Corinne Podger (Director – Digital Skills Agency- Australia), Adam Tinworth (Consultant-Reed Business Information), Juan Velasco (5W Infographics LLC, USA), Simon Scarr (Singapore), Murdoch Davis (USA), Frank Denton (Vice President – Journalism, Morris publishing groups-USA), Ola Henrikkson Independent media consultant (Sweden), Robb Montgomery (Mobile journalism author, Founder, USA), Kavita Chandran (Singapore), Dean Arnett – (Independent and freelance-Video production specialist-UK) , Kevin Anderson (Director of professional services at PugPig- UK), Danny Spears (Chief Operating Officer, The Ozone Project), David Warmsley (Editor-in-Chief, The Globe and Mail, Canada), Javier Garza (Editor, EnRe2 Laguna, Mexico), Kathy English VP (Content Integrity & Editorial Standards Dotdash Meredith-Canada), Margret Muller (Director, Digital Publishing – RP Digital GmbH- Germany), Aileen Rae Perez (Social Media Manager – GMA Network Inc., Philippines), Cahyo Listyanto (GM Technology, Product & Data, Harian Kompas- Indonesia), Cherish Leow (Assistant VP, Branded Content & Editorial Solutions – Astro Awani Network Sdn Bhd-Malaysia), Chris Janz Media Advisor-Australia), Lyn-yi Chung (Deputy Chief Editor, CNA Digital-Singapore), Karen Lim (Supervising Editor – Mediacorp, Singapore), Lee Williamson (Regional Editorial Director, Tatler Asia Limited, Hong Kong), Eoghan Weeney (Digital Media Consultant-Germany), Rebecca Skippage (Disinformation Editor BBC News– UK), and Kuang Keng (Data editor Pulitzer centre, Malaysia). 

 

Contact and Inquiries

For further information, please contact: Magdoom Mohamed, Managing Director, WAN-IFRA South Asia, Chennai, India (magdoom.mohamed@wan-ifra.org) or Thai Anban, Manager – Business Development, WAN-IFRA South Asia, Chennai, India (thai.anban@wan-ifra.org).

Vincent Peyrègne

Vincent Peyrègne took up duties as Chief Executive Officer of WAN-IFRA in 2012. Prior to joining WAN-IFRA, he was Head of Development at Edipresse in Switzerland (now Tamedia) with responsibility for audience insights, editorial marketing research and product development, before joining the office of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

vincent.peyregne@wan-ifra.org

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