BBC, The Quint, The Hindu bag Gold at Wan-Ifra’s Digital Media Awards South Asia

Wan-Ifra has announced the winners of the Digital Media Awards South Asia 2025, honouring outstanding digital projects from the region. Wan-Ifra’s Digital Media Awards South Asia celebrates top innovators, recognizing publishers that have delivered impactful digital projects, improved audience engagement, and used technology effectively to enhance journalism.

This year’s awards continue the tradition of recognizing excellence in digital innovation, creativity, and audience engagement among South Asia’s leading publishers. With over 105 entries from media organizations across South Asia, the competition this year showcased the industry’s drive to push boundaries in storytelling, engagement, and technology-driven news experiences.

BBC bagged the gold award for the Best Data Visualisation project, The Quint for the Best News Website, while The Hindu won top honors for Best Use of Video. Participating newsrooms competed in 12 categories including audience engagement, use of AI, video, data visualization, digital product, amongst others. The top winner across all categories will be awarded Champion Publisher of the year 2024. 

Acknowledging the significant role of small and medium publishers, Wan-Ifra continues to support and celebrate the success of news organizations with annual revenues below US$ 5 million, ensuring broader recognition of impactful journalism in the region. Pluc (India) and The Current (Pakistan) bagged Gold across Video, Newsletter and Engagement categories.

A panel of experienced editors and industry experts evaluated the entries, selecting winners based on innovation, audience impact, and journalistic excellence. As a next step, all Gold winners from this year’s awards will automatically qualify for Wan-Ifra’s World Digital Media Awards, where they will compete with top digital projects from across the globe.

The winners will be presented their trophies at the Digital Media India 2025 conference on 18 June 2025 at Chennai.

The winners are:

Best Data Visualization

• Gold: BBC, Throw it like Arshad: Pakistan’s trailblazer javelin thrower

• Silver: The Hindu Group, How India voted: A retrospective from 1952 – 2024

• Bronze: The Hindu Group Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy 

Best in Audience Engagement

• Gold: The Daily Star, Maa Shob Pare – Mother’s Day 2024

• Silver: The Quint, My Report

• Bronze: The Hindu Group, The Hindu Quiz and Quest

Small Medium Category

• Pluc, Meri TB Ki Kahaani – Pluc

Best News Website

• Gold: The Quint, The Quint Website

• Silver: HT Labs, Slurrp – HT Labs ( HMVL )

• Bronze: NDTV Profit, NDTV Profit website

Best Use of Video

• Gold: The Hindu Group The Hindu Made of Chennai

• Gold: Deutsche Welle, Megacity Mindset – Life among Millions

• Silver: The Quint ‘Those Who Die Are Called Martyrs’: In Rajasthan’s ‘Mini Kota’ Suicide is a Joke

• Bronze: Deutsche Welle, Dirty and Dangerous: Scrapping ships in Bangladesh

Small Medium Category

• Pluc, South-Asian-Business-House

Best Digital Subscription/Reader Revenue Project

• Gold: Sakal, Sakal+ (Digital Subscription)

• Silver: The Hindu Group, Moving Beyond one-size-fits-all Paywall /Propensity-based Paywalls

• Bronze: The Hindu Group, A Gift for Keeps: Harnessing Reciprocity to Drive Digital Subscriptions

Best Podcast

• Gold: The Hindu Group, ‘In Focus’ by The Hindu

• Silver: Deutsche Welle, Love Matters

• Bronze: Pluc, The On-Air Series

Best Use of AI in Newsroom

• Gold: The Indian Express Online, Express Shorts

• Silver: Jagran New Media, AI Literacy: Bridging the Gap to Empower Newsrooms and Communities – Vishvas News

• Bronze: The Quint, The Great Indian Paper Heist

Best Use of AI in Revenue Strategy

• Gold: The Hindu Group, AI-based Video Chapter Generation System

• Silver: The Hindu Group, Personalized Recommendations: Leveraging AI to Enhance Engagement and Revenue

• Bronze: HT Labs, OTTplay – HT Labs ( HMVL )

Best Fact-Checking Project

• Gold: The Quint, Scamguard

• Silver: Amar Ujala Web Services, Lok Sabha Fact Check Series

Small Medium Category

• Soch Fact Check, Pakistan’s elections were not transparent, efficient, or peaceful
• The Current, FACT CHECK SERIES: Punjab College Rape Case – The Current

Best Newsletter

• Gold: HT Labs, Slurrp – HT Labs ( HMVL )

• Silver: HT Labs, OTTplay – HT Labs ( HMVL )

• Bronze: NDTV Convergence, NDTV’s ‘Nothing Artificial About It’ newsletter

Small Medium Category

• The Current, The Current Newsletter – The Current

Best Native Advertising Campaign

• Gold: The Hindu Group, The Hindu Made of Chennai

• Silver: The Daily Star, Maa Shob Pare – The Daily Star

• Bronze: HT Labs, Slurrp – HT Labs ( HMVL )

Best Innovative Digital Product

• Gold: Pluc, Farout – Pluc

• Silver: Newslaundry, Making News Accessible – Newslaundry

• Bronze: NDTV Convergence, NDTV Profit (Mobile App)

Bronze: NDTV Convergence, NDTV Mobile App