Independent Media has won the Global Media Award for 'Best In Africa' amongst others at the coveted International News Media Association (Inma) Global Media Awards and the "Best in Show" Award was won by Helsingin Sanomat's "The Land of Free Press at the event that was held in New York on Friday.
The media group received first prize in the category: 'Best Use of An Event to Build A News Brand' for its Regional and National High School Quiz and also walked away with the Global Media Award for 'Best In Africa' where judges selected the best of six world regions from the finalists.
Media24 also received honourable mentions for Die Burger for Best New Print Product category (Regional), 24.com for Best Idea to grow Digital Readership or Engagement category (Global), Netwerk24 for the "Best New Concept or Innovation to Create New Profit Centers" category (Global). See the local wins underlined in the list below.
The “Best in Show,” Award was won by Helsingin Sanomat’s “The Land of Free Press,” a multi-media campaign touting the impact of its journalism amid a rising tide of about the fake news and misinformation.
The Global Media Awards were presented before more than 400 delegates attending the closing dinner of the Inma World Congress of News Media at the Edison Ballroom in New York’s Times Square.
Winners announced at Global Media Awards Dinner
During the ceremony, 40 first-place winners were unveiled across 20 categories aimed at energising news brands, creating products, engaging audiences, developing customer insights, growing advertising revenue, and instilling innovation. Entrants were judged in two groups: global/national brands and regional/local brands. Inma has presented awards for media excellence since 1937.
The 2019 Global Media Awards competition garnered 664 entries from 165 news media companies in 34 countries. Participants included newspaper media, magazine media, digital media, television media, and radio media.
An international panel of 46 executives from 15 countries selected 194 finalists, and from those the first-place recipients were announced at the Global Media Awards Dinner.
Multiple awards
Five companies won multiple first-place awards. Jagran Prakashan from India and Schibsted across its diverse brands in Norway and Sweden took home three top prizes, while three others garnered two first places: Amedia from Norway, MittMedia from Sweden, and News Corp Australia.
“This year’s Global Media Awards first place recipients leaned heavily into the science of marketing with an emphasis on data, metrics, and return on investment,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of Inma. “Yet the brand campaigns stood above everything. Judges said the competition was intensively competitive, and the final decisions difficult. All winners and finalists should know that their efforts stand as the world’s best from the past year.”
About the global “Best in Show”
The global “Best in Show” campaign, “The Land of Free Press,” was produced by Sanoma Media’s Helsingin Sanomat around the 2018 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. With both presidents expressing hostility to media, Helsingin Sanomat rented 300+ billboards along three possible presidential routes and projected messages in English and Russian like, “Mr President, welcome to the land of the free press.”
While it was aimed at two world leaders, the campaign sparked an international conversation about the role of the free press, generating 2,500+ articles in 47 countries and more than one million social interactions. Helsingin Sanomat estimates that more than 1.2 billion were reached. Google Trends data suggests a massive spike in interest about the free press. Hundreds of news organisations around the world joined an effort to support a free press.
Inma judges called the campaign a “gutsy concept that could have ended up being a generic press campaign, but the brand went big and got all the reward locally and internationally.”
Sanoma Media is a leading news media company based in Finland with operations in various European countries.
Regional winners
- Judges selected from finalists the best in six world regions. Announced in New York were:
- Best in Africa: Independent Media for “Regional and National High School Quiz”
- Best in Asia/Pacific, Regional/Local Brands: Singapore Press Holdings for “The Straits Times Asia Report Magazine”
- Best in Asia/Pacific, Global/National Brands: New Zealand Herald for “#NotForSale”
- Best in Europe, Regional/Local Brands: Amedia for “Amedia Norway Sports”
- Best in Europe, Global/National Brands: Helsingin Sanomat for “The Land of Free Press”
- Best in Latin America, Regional/Local Brands: El Comercio in Perú for “#NoTePases”
- Best in Latin America, Global/National Brands: Grupo Clarín for “Digital Ecosystem Via País + Cimeco”
- Best in North America, Regional/Local Brands: Alabama Media Group for “Chasing Corruption”
- Best in North America, Global/National Brands: The New York Times for “Feeling It: How NYT Targets Emotional Context”
- Best in South Asia, Regional/Local Brands: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group) for “The Times of India Flirt With Your City”
- Best in South Asia, Global/National Brands: Jagran Prakashan for “We, the Daughters of India”
Inma Global Media Awards results
Group 1 represents regional/local brands, and Group 2 represents global/national brands.
Category 1: Best Brand Awareness Campaign
Group 1
- First Place: GFR Media, Puerto Rico, “El Nuevo Día: Keep Asking”
- Second Place: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “The Times of India Flirt With Your City”
- Third Place: Hindustan Media Ventures, India, “Winning Back a Challenging Market - Meerut”
- Honourable Mention: Newsday Media Group, United States, “Feed Me Brand Promotion”
- Honourable Mention: Gannett - USA Today, United States, “Westchesterian Campaign”
Group 2
- First Place: Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, “The Land of Free Press”
- Second Place: The New York Times, United States, “The Truth Has a Voice”
- Third Place: El Comercio, Peru, “For Which Peru Are You Playing?”
- Honourable Mention: AGEA, Argentina, “Argentinos, A Campaign to Reinforce Our Brand Value”
- Honourable Mention: The Wall Street Journal, United States, “Good Things Campaign”
Category 2: Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign
Group 1
- First Place: El Comercio, Peru, “#NoTePases”
- Second Place: Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, Canada, “Finding Home: 31 Days, 31 Ways to End Homelessness”
- Third Place: Editora Globo, Brazil, “Fato ou Fake”
- Honourable Mention: Hindustan Media Ventures, India, “An Inconvenient Truth of Missing Toilets for Women - Pink Toilets”
- Honourable Mention: Nine - Australian Community Media, Australia, “Pink Up Your Town”
Group 2
- First Place: New Zealand Herald, New Zealand, “#NotForSale”
- Second Place: Ringier Axel Springer, Poland, “Building Brand Trust by Uniting a Divided Society”
- Third Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Fields on Fire”
- Honourable Mention: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “#NoConditionsApply - Sindoor Khela”
- Honourable Mention: Hindustan Media Ventures, India, “Campaign for Relief to Victims of Landslide Disaster at Uttrakhand”
Category 3: Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand
Group 1
- First Place: Independent Media, South Africa, “Regional and National High School Quiz”
- Second Place: Metropolitan Media Company, India, “Educating Youngsters to Stay Away from Drugs - VK Drug-Free Mangalore Campaign”
- Third Place: Gannett, United States, “USA Today Network High School Sports Awards”
- Honourable Mention: Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing, India, “Mathrubhumi Re-Imagine the Future Season 2”
- Honourable Mention: GFR Media, Puerto Rico, “A Un Año de María - The Gallery”
Group 2
- First Place: The Wall Street Journal, United States, “The Future of Everything Festival”
- Second Place: Zeit Online, Germany, “Z2X - Festival for New Visionaries”
- Third Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “The Culture Project”
- Honourable Mention: USA Today Network - Gannett, United States, “The Wall Documentary Tour”
- Honourable Mention: Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “The Rematch”
Category 4: Best New Print Product
Group 1
- First Place: Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore, “The Strait Times Asia Report Magazine”
- Second Place: Diario Los Andes, Argentina, “Infodatos”
- Third Place: Newsday Media Group, United States, “Feed Me Magazine”
- Honourable Mention: Hindustan Times Media, India, “Gurugram Launch”
- Honourable Mention: Media24, South Africa, “Die Burger Eastern Cape Frequency Change”
Group 2
- First Place: Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “Green Stuff: About Nature, Environment and Such …”
- Second Place: Guardian News and Media, United Kingdom, “The New Guardian Weekly”
- Third Place: Nation Media Group, Kenya, “Juniorspot”
- Honourable Mention: El Comercio, Peru, “Mundialistas”
- Honourable Mention: 24sata, Croatia, “BestBook”
Category 5: Best Use of Mobile
Group 1
- First Place: ABP, India, “Anandabazar Patrika - Songe Achi - App Helping Anandabazar Patrika Go Hyperlocal”
- Second Place: Diario Los Andes, Argentina, “Mendocinos on Alert”
Group 2
- First Place: South China Morning Post, China, “Abacus - abacusnews.com”
- Second Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “An App to Power a Parliament”
- Third Place: VG/Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “News for a New Generation”
- Honourable Mention: FehrAdvice & Partners, Switzerland, “World Cup Game by Denner”
- Honourable Mention: Bloomberg Media, United States, “In App AI Enhances Bloomberg’s The Bulletin”
Category 6: Best Use of Video
Group 1
- First Place: Alabama Media Group, United States, “Chasing Corruption”
- Second Place: Amedia, Norway, “Amedia Norway Sports: Live Streaming 3,000 Matches to 63 Local Newspapers in 2018”
- Third Place: Le Devoir, Canada, “Le Devoir, Always There!”
- Honourable Mention: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “The Times of India Flirt With Your City”
- Honourable Mention: Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, Canada, “On Calgary Streets: Dignity at the End of Life”
Group 2
- First Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “We, the Daughters of India”
- Second Place: NBC News Digital, United States, “NBC Left Field: Mixed Reality Series”
- Third Place: Bloomberg Media, United States, “Bloomberg’s Tic Toc Reimagines Video News”
- Honourable Mention: VG, Norway, “VG Berxit”
- Honourable Mention: New Zealand Herald, New Zealand, “#NotForSale”
Category 7: Best Launch of a Brand or Product to Create An Audience Segment
Group 1
- First Place: Metro LatAm, Chile, “Sagrosso”
- Second Place: Hindustan Times Media, India, “Gurugram Launch”
- Third Place: Grupo RBS, Brazil, “ATL House”
- Honourable Mention: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “VN Brand Initiative for SMBs”
- Honourable Mention: Nine - Australian Community Media, Australia, "Pennytel"
Group 2
- First Place: Aftenposten, Norway, “Explained: How We Launched Largest Daily News Podcast”
- Second Place: Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “How Aftenposten Increased Their Business Leads with 66% Per Day”
- Third Place: Comunican/El Espectador, Colombia, “Colombia 2020: Building a Country Regionally Driven”
- Honourable Mention: Dagbladet, Norway, “Fantaski”
- Honourable Mention: Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión del Perú, Peru, “Ñuqanchik, the First TV News Programme in Quechua in Peru”
Category 8: Best Use of New Technology to Generate Revenue and Engage
Group 1
- First Place: Bay Area News Group, United States, “Convertly Website and Adtech SaaS Platform”
- Second Place: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “Vol.at - Ländlepunkte”
- Third Place: Ledger Dispatch, United States, “Interactive News Augmented Reality Platform and App”
- Honourable Mention: MittMedia, Sweden, “The MittMedia Reacher Advertising Initiative”
- Honourable Mention: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, United States, “The Digital Billboard Network”
Group 2
- First Place: NBC News Digital, United States, “NBC Left Field: Mixed Reality Video Series”
- Second Place: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, “FAZ Discover”
- Third Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “An App to Power a Parliament”
- Honourable Mention: American Press Institute, United States, “Metrics for News Aligns With Funnel Strategies to Grow Revenue and Engage”
- Honourable Mention: News Xtend - News Corp, Australia, “Digital iQ & Sales Bootcamp”
Category 9: Best Idea to Encourage Print Readership or Engagement
Group 1
- First Place: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “The Times of India Flirt With Your City”
- Second Place: Metropolitan Media Company, India, “Farmer Awards - Engaging With Farmers and Agri Clients as Readers: VK Super Star Raita Awards”
- Third Place: Stuff Media NZ, New Zealand, “When Words Matter: Te Reo Maori Masthead”
- Honourable Mention: ABP, India, “ABP Bundles Engagement Programmes for Products Beyond News”
- Honourable Mention: Hindustan Times Media, India, “Gurugram Launch”
Group 2
- First Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Every Breath You Take”
- Second Place: 24sata, Croatia, “Gone But Not Forgotten. The Search Continues”
- Third Place: The Hindu Group, India, “The Hindu In School”
- Honourable Mention: VG, Norway, “VG User Engagement with Interactive Chess: Norway vs. USA”
- Honourable Mention: Aftenposten, Norway, “Aftenposten Print 2.0: Modernizing Newspaper by Looking Back to 1860”
Category 10: Best Idea to Grow Digital Readership or Engagement
Group 1
- First Place: Winnipeg Free Press, Canada, “Above the Fold”
- Second Place: Amedia, Norway, “Amedia Norway Sports: Live Streaming 3,000 Matches to 63 Local Newspapers in 2018”
- Third Place: MittMedia, Sweden, “Inside Ice Hockey”
- Honourable Mention: Editora Globo, Brazil, “Content Single Score”
- Honourable Mention: Newsday Media Group, United States, “Power On Trial”
Group 2
- First Place: Jagran New Media, India, “Jagran.com: My City My Pride”
- Second Place: Aftonbladet, Sweden, “Their Planet”
- Third Place: 24sata, Croatia, “No Man’s Land”
- Honourable Mention: 24.com, South Africa, “News24 Mandela100”
- Honourable Mention: Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “Project Onboarding”
Category 11: Best Use of Social Media
Group 1
- First Place: Hindustan Times Media, India, “Gurugram Launch”
- Second Place: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “The Times of India Flirt With Your City”
- Third Place: Alabama Media Group, United States, “It's a Southern Thing”
- Honourable Mention: The Oregonian/OregonLive, United States, “Ghosts of Highway 20 Social Media Campaign”
- Honourable Mention: Diario Los Andes, Argentina, “Sarmiento, 130 Years After His Death”
Group 2
- First Place: Aftonbladet, Sweden, “Receipts of Power”
- Second Place: VGTV, Norway, “Vegard X Funkygine”
- Third Place: TVN, Poland, “Uwaga TVN”
- Honourable Mention: Jagran Prakashan, India, “We, the Daughters of India”
- Honourable Mention: 24sata, Croatia, “Gone But Not Forgotten. The Search Continues”
Category 12: Best New Paid Content or Subscription Initiative
Group 1
- First Place: Amedia, Norway, “Amedia Norway Sports: Live Streaming 3,000 Matches to 63 Local Newspapers in 2018”
- Second Place: Editora Globo, Brazil, “Dynamic Sales Journey”
- Third Place: News Corp, Australia, “One Queensland”
- Honourable Mention: Advertiser Newspapers, Australia, “The Advertiser’s Delicious 100”
- Honourable Mention: Le Devoir, Canada, “Le Devoir, Always There!”
Group 2
- First Place: Ekstra Bladet, Denmark, “How Super Topics Changed the Way Ekstra Bladet Works With Paid Content”
- Second Place: Schibsted Media Group, Norway, “How We Made It Easy to Quit But Tempting to Stay”
- Third Place: Gannett, United States, “Driving Subscriber Engagement and Retention Through USA Today Network’s Lifecycle Communications”
- Honourable Mention: Handelsblatt, Germany, “Subscription First: The New Handelsblatt Paywall”
- Honourable Mention: News Corp, Australia, “True Crime Australia”
Category 13: Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales or Retain Advertising Clients
Group 1
- First Place: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, United States, “The Digital Billboard Network”
- Second Place: MittMedia, Sweden, “The MittMedia Reacher Advertising Initiative”
- Third Place: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “Apprentice Gondolas”
- Honourable Mention: Dainik Bhaskar, India, “Declaring the Capture of Bihar’s Newspaper Market”
- Honourable Mention: News Corp, Australia, “News Corp $1 Million Business Booster”
Group 2
- First Place: The New York Times, United States, “Feeling It: How NYT Targets Emotional Context”
- Second Place: Stuff Media, New Zealand, “Innovate or Evaporate: Total Sales Funnel Solutions”
- Third Place: The Irish Times, Ireland, “Irish Times Food Month”
- Honourable Mention: Bloomberg Media, United States, “Ad.apt Turns Bloomberg’s Unique Data into Advertising Revenue”
- Honourable Mention: VGTV, Norway, “Effective Video Ads”
Category 14: Best Marketing Solution for an Advertising Client
Group 1
- First Place: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “VN Brand Initiative for SMBs”
- Second Place: The Hindu Group, India, “The Hindu for Client Parle”
- Third Place: Amedia Salg og Marked, Norway, “Comeback In The North”
- Honourable Mention: ABP One, India, “Of Tea, Bengali and Sugar”
- Honourable Mention: Irish Examiner, Ireland, “Tesco Partnership with The Evening Echo Women’s Mini Marathon”
Group 2
- First Place: News Corp, Australia, “Mars Food Australia, Mediacom and News Corp: Paving the Pathway to Dinnertime”
- Second Place: Schibsted Media Group, Sweden, “Share Joy: How Schibsted & Unilever Used a Mobile Payment Solution to Engage and Increase Ice Cream Sales In the Summer”
- Third Place: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “Fertile Conversations”
- Honourable Mention: Dainik Bhaskar, India, “Junior Editor In Partnership With Dell”
- Honourable Mention: Sanoma Media, Finland, “Data Partnerships For B2B Growth”
Category 15: Best Execution of Print Advertising
Group 1
- First Place: Nine - Australian Community Media, Australia, “MAC Half H”
- Second Place: designIQ, United States, “EEM&M”
- Third Place: designIQ, United States, “The District”
- Honourable Mention: designIQ, United States, “Happy Trails CBD”
- Honourable Mention: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “VN Brand Initiative for SMBs”
Group 2
- First Place: Dainik Bhaskar, India, “Smart Soch Campaign”
- Second Place: Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore, “The Colourful Cat Advertisement”
- Third Place: The Australian, Australia, “Qantas Wine E-retailer Turns to Print to Drive Sales”
- Honourable Mention: Independent Media, South Africa, “Chicken Licken Fly-Thru”
- Honourable Mention: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Dainik Jagran: Amazon at Your Doorstep”
Category 16: Best Execution of Native Advertising
Group 1
- First Place: Chicago Tribune, United States, “Groupon Coupon Holiday Challenge”
- Second Place: News Corp, Australia, “News Corp Victoria & Carlton and United Breweries - mX Zero”
- Third Place: Amedia Salg og Marked, Norway, “Comeback In The North”
- Honourable Mention: Alabama Media Group, United States, “When Couples Go On Vacation”
- Honourable Mention: USA Today Network - Gannett, United States, “Derby Fest”
Group 2
- First Place: Bonnier News Brand Studio, Sweden, “Tele2 End-Up”
- Second Place: Ekstra Bladet, Denmark, Shero/Always: Relevant Content Lead to Massive Impact With Young Women”
- Third Place: News Corp, Australia, “news.com.au & 7-Eleven Simply Cups”
- Honourable Mention: Bloomberg Media, United States, “Leap Ahead, Bloomberg’s Native Advertising Campaign for 3M”
- Honourable Mention: 24sata, Croatia, “Let’s Talk About Sex”
Category 17: Best Use of Data Analytics
Group 1
- First Place: MittMedia, Sweden, “The Retention Challenge: Using Data Science to Understand Our Ad Customers”
- Second Place: Metro LatAm, Chile, “Nueva Mujer”
Group 2
- First Place: News Corp, Australia, “Verity”
- Second Place: The Times & The Sunday Times, United Kingdom, “Best Ever Growth for The Times & The Sunday Times Thanks to Usable Data Science”
- Third Place: The New York Times, United States, “Readerscope: Turning Articles Into Actionable Insights”
- Honourable Mention: American Press Institute, United States, “Metrics for News Transforms Analytics for Journalists”
- Honourable Mention: The Telegraph, United Kingdom, “Telegraph Pulse”
Category 18: Best Use of Consumer Research
Group 1
- First Place: Gannett, United States, “Audience Strategy Activation”
- Second Place: Hindustan Media Ventures, India, “Using Research to Win Back a Challenging Market - Meerut”
- Third Place: Grupo RBS, Brazil, “Persona Project”
- Honourable Mention: USA Today Network - Gannett, United States, “The Storytellers Project”
- Honourable Mention: Amedia Salg og Marked, Norway, “Comeback In The North”
Group 2
- First Place: Financial Times, United States, “Customer Insight for FT Senior Leadership Team”
- Second Place: News Corp, Australia, “Driving Life: Connecting Automotive Brands with Australian Life”
- Third Place: The Times & The Sunday Times, United Kingdom, “Conscious Commissioning”
- Honourable Mention: NewsMediaWorks, Australia, “AdTrust3”
- Honourable Mention: Schibsted Media Group, Sweden, “Schibsted Native Study”
Category 19: Best New Corporate Innovation Initiative
Group 1
- First Place: MittMedia, Sweden, “The Data Platform as a Platform of Innovation”
- Second Place: News Corp, Australia, “One Queensland”
- Third Place: ABP, India, “ABP Innovation Hub”
- Honourable Mention: Independent Media, South Africa, “Independent Media Internship Programme 2018”
- Honourable Mention: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “Interactive Snow”
Group 2
- First Place: Grupo Clarín, Argentina, “Digital Ecosystem Via Pais + Cimeco”
- Second Place: Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (Times Group), India, “Digital Transformation of Print Sales”
- Third Place: Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore, “Project Storm: An Innovation Journey”
- Honourable Mention: Jagran Prakashan, India, “The School of Life”
- Honourable Mention: Dagens Næringsliv, Norway, “How To Make a Product Users Actually Need: Innovation Framework in DN”
Category 20: Best New Concept or Innovation to Create New Profit Centers
Group 1
- First Place: Amedia, Norway, “Amedia Norway Sports: Live Streaming 3,000 Matches to 63 Local Newspapers in 2018”
- Second Place: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, United States, “The Digital Billboard Network”
- Third Place: Alabama Media Group, United States, “Red Clay Media”
- Honourable Mention: Metropolitan Media Company, India, “VK Super Star Raita - Farmer Awards - Connecting Agriculture-Based National and Local Clients to Farmer Community in Karnataka State”
- Honourable Mention: Russmedia Digital, Austria, “Interactive Snow”
Group 2
- First Place: Stuff Media NZ, New Zealand, “Digital Revenue Acquisition Unit: Innovate or Evaporate”
- Second Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Game Theory to Generate Ad Revenues”
- Third Place: News Corp, Australia, “News Native Networks”
- Honourable Mention: Dagens Næringsliv, Norway, “The Ocean”
- Honourable Mention: 24.com, South Africa, “Netwerk24”
The next Inma Global Media Awards competition deadline is Friday, January 24, 2020. Winners will be announced at the Global Media Awards dinner Tuesday evening, April 28, 2020, at the INMA World Congress of News Media in Paris.
