Sometimes we hear a bit of reluctance from smaller or local news organisations that are considering joining one of our numerous Digital Media Awards competitions. Their concern: “How can we realistically compete against such larger news organisations?”
Fair point.
But a closer look at this year’s Digital Media Awards Worldwide competition, and previous editions, will be encouraging to those debating joining: real innovation should be recognised – and rewarded! – no matter the size of a news org.
Consider Food for Mzansi, an agricultural news publication based in South Africa. Its Farmer’s Inside Track podcast that serves as a resource for newly commercialising farmers across Africa took home the Best Podcast award in the Worldwide Awards this past May.
“We honestly didn’t see it coming – we don’t have a podcast studio and most of our recordings are done via WhatsApp and Zoom,” said Ivor Price, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Food For Mzansi. “This award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire team, who are passionate about sharing the stories of South Africa’s agricultural heroes.”
That level of passion comes across in every case featured in this report, a great source of inspiration and insight into innovations popping up all over the world.
Of the 12 cases featured, there are two clear common themes present in most products or initiatives: a focus on driving subscriptions or memberships and engagement, and often utilising AI and (smart) data to do so.
Each case also includes the eventual outcomes, and crucially, lessons learned. This sometimes means the hard and honest work of acknowledging what went wrong or could have been done differently.
A huge thanks to all those news organisations participating in our awards competitions. Everyone wins and learns by participating. Check out an upcoming competition in your region. And another huge thanks to Neha Gupta for reporting on all this!
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