Recognising the best projects in the news media industry
Catalina Albeanu is a digital editor passionate about developing interdisciplinary editorial projects. She’s currently working on setting up a directory of journalism networks in Europe as part of the European Excellence Exchange in Journalism (E3J) project. Previously she was digital editor at DoR, a non-profit independent media focused on narrative storytelling in Romania, and media reporter and events manager at Journalism.co.uk.
Pablo led several digital businesses over a decade at Clarín -one of Latin America’s largest media conglomerates- before founding Diagonal Minds in 2016, a global research and advisory firm focused on identifying industry trends, MediaTech innovation, best practices, and new revenue opportunities. He has also served as a jury member for the INMA, WAN-IFRA, and Press Gazette global media awards in recent years.
Julia has been an online journalist for 15 years, starting out covering cultural topics and moving on towards the technical and strategic side of journalism. After six years as a feuilleton writer at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, she changed course and now is the lead coordinator for paid content at Tagesspiegel. In that role, she provides the newsroom with data, the copy writers with topic ideas and the publishing house with the editorial view on strategic changes. She has a strong interest in all things data and has accepted that this love isn’t always mutual. The techniques and challenges of storytelling do rarely leave her mind: In her spare time, she writes novels.
Jeremy has more than 30 years in the media publishing industry, leading digital change in newsrooms across the UK and managing the complex transition from print to digital reader-revenue access models, and now in how to integrate Generative AI into newsrooms.
He is a certified executive-level coach and is a founding director of his leadership development and training advisory business, Chrysalis Transformations – for established and emerging leaders.
John Crowley is an editor, trainer and consultant with 25 years of journalistic experience managing newsrooms and budgets across a variety of titles. After taking on digital and leadership roles for The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and The Irish Post, he now writes across subjects including technology, business, newsroom management, sustainability, mental health and wellbeing. John has a strong track record in digital innovation and audience insights, reacting to the varied ways people now consume news. In his consultancy role, he advises companies on the ever-changing digital media landscape and how PRs can pitch journalists.
At the end of 2020, he co-published a report into wellbeing entitled ‘Journalism in the Time of Covid’. As a result he was asked to train journalists in the US and UK. John is a trained mental health first aider with MHFA England. He has co-developed a journalism wellbeing programme for Headlines Network with journalist colleague Hannah Storm in late 2021. They have published a suite of mental health resources for journalists in 2022, working with the charity Mind, and have started a new podcast called Behind the Headlines.
Christophe advises media organisations on team acculturation and the deployment of ethical AI strategies, using a holistic approach at the crossroads of editorial, technology and people, As co-designer and lead mentor for the global Newsroom AI Catalyst programme (piloted by Fathm for WAN-IFRA, in collaboration with OpenAI), he has supported international newsrooms in experimenting with generative AI and has led the European “Advanced” cohort. His strategic vision is further informed by a Fathm collaboration with DeepMind, focusing on the structural impacts of advanced models on journalism.
Author of the “Manuel de data visualisation” published by Dunod, he accompanies professionals (graphic designers, communicators, journalists…) and students (at Sciences Po, CFJ…) in the development of their data design skills, and creates visualisations for his clients. After studying graphic arts, Jean-Marie worked at Ubisoft, then as head of the computer graphics department of Libération and in various agencies (Idé, Wag…) as an AD. He then created the Studio V2 collective, which he quickly transformed into an agency specialised in data design. In 2020, he sold his shares and became an independent data designer.
Leonardo Pescante is deputy editor in chief, in charge of digital at 24heures.ch, a French-speaking media in Switzerland. After studying mathematics and management at the University of Lausanne, he worked for almost 15 years at Swiss Radio International. He contributed to the transformation of this radio station, broadcasting in nine languages, into an internet platform that became swissinfo.ch. Leonardo also participated in the launch of the national music website Couleur3.ch and the website of the French-speaking Swiss television rts.ch. In 2011, he joined the editorial staff of 24heures, where he accelerated the digital transition with the move to the paid web.
Penny Riordan is the Director of Business Strategy and Partnerships for Local Media Association. She runs the LMA Digital Club, including two web conferences per month where members collaborate with industry peers on important digital revenue, product, audience and content topics. Penny also supports the work of the Oklahoma Media Center and LMA’s new initiative on locals news startups with the Tributary in Jacksonville, FL.
Brian is a Senior Editor at WAN-IFRA and specialises in reporting about reader revenue, advertising and general management topics for our website and reports. He is the editor of WAN-IFRA’s Digital Revenue newsletter and a contributor to our daily Executive News Service newsletter. Before joining WAN-IFRA, he worked as an editor at several daily newspapers.
Gregor Waller provides consulting services to international media businesses for developing their digital strategy and transforming their business models for the digital era.
Maxime Le Hégarat is the head of digital video at Le Télégramme (France) since 2022. He leads a team of several video journalists and co-created Ravito, the video series that brings together cycling enthusiasts every Friday. Before that, he was an image reporter and director for the BBC for ten years in Africa. He has made numerous reports and investigative documentaries, which have won international awards.
