Digital Media Awards Africa

Entries should demonstrate excellence in design, usefulness and clarity of information conveyed, in the context of (for example) breaking news, information, entertainment or data-driven visual storytelling. Special attention will be paid to creativity and visual impact, as well as the effectiveness of mobile devices.

Entries should demonstrate an original offering that measurably grows user engagement, and actively reflects the voice and tone of the news brand. Entries should provide evidence of an audience spending more time with the brand’s content, or converting from social platforms to own platforms.

Entries must demonstrate combined excellence in content and UX, as well as value to readers and advertisers. Innovative design, intuitive customer journey, the use of multimedia (such as audio, video, infographics, photography, etc) to better tell the story, speed of access and the service’s overall contribution to revenue goals, such as ‘premium’ sections, will also be taken into consideration.

Entries should demonstrate an ability to relate a story in a concise and objective way and improve the reader experience and engagement online with the news brand. There should be consideration of the appropriate online video format for specific platforms (e.g. Facebook vs YouTube). The technical quality of the shooting and realisation as well as the possible emotional and aesthetic impact of the video will also be taken into consideration.

This category recognises projects by publishers that are aimed at increasing the subscriber base for the digital product, for paid and/or free users. Entries should demnostrate real results and metrics, understanding of brand strengths, clarity for the reader or customer, and an effective call to ation. Entries should provide evidence of solid conversion and/or retention results.

This category is open to companies that have successfully included newsletters as a part of their editorial offering. The newsletter should have carefully tailored content serving a specific purpose, a user-friendly interaction, coherent design, an original editorial angle and format, and measurable audience results in terms of growth and engagement.

This category looks for innovative podcast initiatives to tell the news. Entries must demonstrate mastery of the format, strong quality of execution, an added value to the listeners, and a measurable loyal audience.

This category is open to publishers that demonstrate innovative use of AI / generative AI for content correction, content creation (articles, summaries, etc.), workflow efficiency, simplifed research or search, topic ideation, translation, personalisation / interaction – in text, images, audio or video.

For this, entries should demonstrate how they are using AI to help drive revenue. For example, dynamic pricing models and strategies for reader revenue models. Personalisation or content recommendations for loyal subscribers (building retention) or potential subscribers (acquisition). Automated onboarding of subscribers. Automated marketing offers. Or how AI is being used in advertising. Entries should be able to demonstrate the impact of these efforts in terms of data, engagement, overall revenue and lessons learned. of data used, the results, and how it impacted overall revenue.

This category is open to publishers who have come up with a project to inform readers of the misinformation in the society and verify the stories through fact checking tools. The project can be about special products or new sections addressing information needs that enhance the trust in publisher’s brand. Entries should demonstrate how information gaps in society were addressed, innovative use of resources and smart planning to quickly meet the challenges posed by the crisis.

Use of news technologies and creative formats to catch more revenue, audiences and subscriptions.

Entries should demonstrate added value to readers/users via excellence in content marketing across multiple platforms. Entries will be measured on creativity, effective use of each media platform, brand voice and providing the best user experience in a post-ad blocking media environment.