The International News Media Association (INMA) has unveiled 200 finalists for its 2026 INMA Global Media Awards — a diverse shortlist drawn from a record number of entries across 46 countries that highlights innovation in journalism, audience engagement, and AI-driven products ahead of this year’s INMA World Congress of News Media in Berlin.
At the heart of the shortlist of finalists are themes uplifting high-quality and local journalism, meeting the next generation of audiences where they are, creating smart video and audio products, diversifying strategically in traditional and non-traditional avenues, and experimenting and winning with generative AI use cases throughout the world.
INMA garnered a record 960 entries from 274 news media brands in 46 countries, with finalists hailing from Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and South Asia.
News brands with the highest number of finalists are the Schibsted news media brands (12); News Corp (eight); Funke Media, Jagran Prakashan, and Mediahuis (seven each); Stampen (six); Bennett, Coleman, & Co., NZME, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and SPH Media (five each); Amedia, Hearst, Manorama, Newsday, and Stuff (four each); and Grupo RBS, The Guardian, Nine, Politiken, Prothom Alo, Ringier, Russmedia, and South China Morning Post (three each)
In its 89th year of rewarding excellence in the news media industry, the 2026 INMA Global Media Awards include 20 categories across two segments — national/international and regional/local. The categories focus on excellence in news brands, readership, media features, product, innovation, subscriptions, advertising, and newsroom.
One first place, second place, and third place will be awarded for each of the 20 categories within each segment. In some cases, judges may omit awards or advise additional awards.
First-place winners, regional winners, and the global Best In Show will be announced at an awards dinner on Thursday, May 7, at Tipi am Kanzleramt in Berlin, as the culmination of the INMA World Congress of News Media May 4-8.
“This is one of the most exciting seasons at INMA,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “Our Global Media Awards reflect the innovation, creativity, and diversity in the global news industry and lead the way for inspiration just around the corner. Whether through audience or advertising, our members are meeting the revenue challenges and opportunities of the AI moment, and we’re thrilled to showcase their efforts.”
Raquel Meikle, coordinator of the Global Media Awards, said this about the 2026 finalists: “This year’s shortlist of finalists showcases an impressive range of outstanding entries, highlighting innovative campaigns that broadened audience reach while delivering measurable revenue growth. Underpinning this work is a clear commitment to smarter, more sustainable strategies for strengthening the long-term viability of their news organisations.”
Sixty (60) media experts from 26 countries judged the entries in February, evaluating entrants on breakthrough results, unique concepts, strong creativity, innovative thinking, and winning synergies across platforms.
“[The entries] take responsibility in creating positive changes in societies around the world — while fighting at the same time against a flood of propaganda, political and emotional manipulation, war(s) on truth, tearing social fabric by abuse of technology, disruption in the sustainability of independent professional media,” one juror said. “My deepest respect to all the nominated media professionals behind the submitted cases.”
The 960 entries in this year’s Global Media Awards competition are live on INMA.org in the association’s Best Practices archive. Finalists may be viewed publicly, while all other entries are reserved exclusively for INMA members. INMA has 10,602 “best practices” from the past decade of Global Media Awards competitions, sortable to finalists and winners, category, year, and country.
Global Media Awards finalists
Finalists below are listed alphabetically. These entries are open to the public through May 10.
Category 1: Best Brand Awareness Campaign
Regional/Local Brand
Fædrelandsvennen, Kristiansand, Norway, “Behind a Story”
Manorama Online, Kottayam, India, “Chumma MO It!”
Nieuwsblad, Antwerp, Belgium, “The Green Playground”
Rheinische Post Mediengruppe, Düsseldorf, Germany, “Düsseldorf Geht Aus: An Innovative, Cross-Channel Project That Brings Local Gastronomy to Life”
Toronto Star, Canada, “City of Stars: A Commemorative Masterpiece for the 50th Anniversary of TIFF”
National/International Brands
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “The Hindi Operating System”
Dow Jones, New York, United States, “WSJ+ Fortune Favors The Ambitious Brand Campaign”
The Hindu, Chennai, India, “The Hindu Written By Journalists”
Prothom Alo, Dhaka, Bangladesh, “HHH: Heads Held High”
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, North Sydney, Australia, “Good Food”
Category 2: Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign
Regional/Local Brand
Amar Ujala, Noida, India, “Tanav Mukt Pariksha (Stress Free Exams)”
Nieuwsblad, Antwerp, Belgium, “The Green Playground”
The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Philly Gives”
Russmedia, Schwarzach, Austria, “Vorarlberger Pflegeaward”
Winnipeg Free Press, Canada, “Media Literacy and Learning Project ”
National/International Brands
Beobachter, Zürich, Switzerland, “Prämienticker”
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “The Architects of Tomorrow”
News Corp, Brisbane, Australia, “Let Them Be Kids”
Prothom Alo, Dhaka, Bangladesh, “Guiding Light: Rewriting Futures in Bangladesh’s Forgotten Regions”
Stuff Group, Auckland, New Zealand, “Swimming Campaign”
Category 3: Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand
Regional/Local Brand
The Hindu, Chennai, India, “The Hindu: Made of Chennai”
Media24, Cape Town, South Africa, “Saturday Night Fitness”
El Nuevo Día, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, “Al Son de Aquí”
The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “ Inquirer Food Fest”
Stuff Group, Wellington, New Zealand, “The Post: The Power of Proximity”
National/International Brands
BusinessDesk, Auckland, New Zealand, “BusinessDesk CEO Index Awards: Finding Leadership Among Our Leaders”
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “Lights. Cities. Action”
Prothom Alo, Dhaka, Bangladesh, “NextGen Achievers: Recognizing and Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders”
The Wall Street Journal, London, United Kingdom, “WSJ Tech Live in California & Qatar, 2025”
Die Zeit, Hamburg, Germany, “Zeit Verbrechen Live Tour 2025: From Headphones to Arenas — Scaling Intimacy for 25,000 Fans”
Category 4: Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement
Regional/Local Brand
Augsburger Allgemeine, Augsburg, Germany, “Future Week”
Bonnier News Local & Gota Media, Stockholm, Sweden, “The Core Model”
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “The People Without a Name”
Newsday, Melville, United States, “Dangerous Roads: Driving Engagement Through Multi-Department Approach to Investigation”
The Times of India, Kolkata, India, “I am Kolkata, Amar Para”
National/International Brands
Blick, Zürich, Switzerland, “Spin to Win: Leveraging Loss Aversion and Gamification to Triple User Registration Rates”
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “Lights. Cities. Action”
HT Digital, New Delhi, India, “Intelligent Notification System with Reinforcement Learning”
Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark, “Voter Poster Generator”
Die Zeit, Berlin, Germany, “Plan D”
Category 5: Best Initiative to Bolster Next-Generation Readership
Regional/Local Brand
Augsburger Allgemeine/augsburg.tv, Augsburg, Germany, “Rocketeer Kids Reporter”
Bergens Tidende, Norway, “The People’s Prejudices: Turning Audience Assumptions into Political Journalism”
Fædrelandsvennen, Kristiansand, Norway, “FVN Young — Breaking the Feed”
Funke Mediengruppe, Berlin, Germany, “Funke Future Audiences Lab”
NTM, Norrköping, Sweden, “Winning the Young Ones”
National/International Brands
Aftenposten, Oslo, Norway, “Aftenposten Education — From Zero to 35% Market Penetration in Five Months”
Beobachter, Zürich, Switzerland, “From Taboo to Triumph: Beobachter’s Social-First Strategy Secures Next-Generation Readership”
The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh, “National Newspaper Olympiad: Turning Reading Into a National Youth Movement”
Nexo Jornal, São Paulo, Brazil, “Nexo no Enem 2025”
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, “Young Post Club”
Category 6: Best Use of Video
Regional/Local Brand
A Gazeta, Vitória, Brazil, “Morro do Macaco Tragedy”
GZH, Porto Alegre, Brazil, “GZH YouTube Streaming: Building a Hyperlocal Video-First News Channel in Southern Brazil”
The New Zealand Herald, Auckland, New Zealand, “Herald NOW — Moving From a Newspaper to a TV Channel”
Onmanorama, Kottayam, India, “How Many of You Know?”
San Antonio Express-News, United States, “In a Minute”
National/International Brands
Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina, “Mile 201: Patrolling the World’s Most Contested Maritime Frontier”
The Quint, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, “Why Indian Cities Aren’t Walkable”
The Straits Times, Singapore, “Vaping: The Invisible Crisis”
The Times of India, New Delhi, India, “The Keeladi Story”
VG, Oslo, Norway, “Reimagining Video for Premium Journalism”
Category 7: Best Use of Audio
Regional/Local Brand
Bergens Tidende, Norway, “The Music Scene That Shocked the World: Beyond the Myth of Norwegian Black Metal”
Dagblad van het Noorden, Groningen, Netherlands, “De Ware Jacob: How a Creative Small Team Created a Hit Podcast”
Manorama Online, Kottayam, India, “MO Podcast: Audio Journalism Initiative”
Nordwest Zeitung, Oldenburg, Germany, “The Local Botcast: AI-Powered, Fully Automated Botcast Workflow, Built for Regional Scalability”
Russmedia, Schwarzach, Austria, “VOL.AT Playlist Feature”
National/International Brands
Aller Media, Copenhagen, Denmark, “HULiGENNEM”
O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, “Caso Zero: Breaking 25 years of Silence in Brazil’s Most Controversial Medical Case”
Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland, “Just Between Us”
News Corp, Sydney, Australia, “Dear Rachelle”
Der Standard, Vienna, Austria, “Inside Austria: The Power of Far-Right Fraternities”
Category 8: Best Use of Print
Regional/Local Brand
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “The People Without a Name”
Hallandsposten, Halmstad, Sweden, “Reusing Print. Creating Something New”
The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Sunday Specials”
The Times of India, New Delhi, India, “Thirukkural With The Times”
Toronto Star, Canada, “City of Stars: A Commemorative Masterpiece for the 50th Anniversary of TIFF”
National/International Brands
O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, “The Centennial Edition: Brazil’s Largest Print Newspaper”
News Corp, Brisbane, Australia, “Let Them Be Kids”
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, “From Ashes, Strength”
The Straits Times, Singapore, “Inside the Confusing World of Women’s Clothing Sizes”
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age, North Sydney, Australia, “Good Food”
Category 9: Best Use of Social Media
Regional/Local Brand
Anandabazar.com, Kolkata, India, “Maruti Suzuki Arena Pujor First Look”
GZH, Porto Alegre, Brazil, “Journalists as Creators: A Social Video Growth Strategy”
Newsday, Melville, United States, “How Newsroom Personalities and Video Strategy Helped Newsday’s Facebook Following Increase by 194%”
Reach, London, United Kingdom, “Why Substack is a Social Media — and How We Proved It”
The Times of India, Kolkata, India, “I am Kolkata, Amar Para”
National/International Brands
BBC News/Collective Newsroom, New Delhi, India, “Optimised Utilisation of Social Media Storytelling by BBC Hindi”
The Financial Times, London, United Kingdom, “A Taste of Appetites: Engaging New Audiences through Creator-Led Social Media”
El Observador, Montevideo, Uruguay, “How to Battle the Algorithm with a Starfish”
VD News, Milan, Italy, “VD News: Engaging Italy’s Youth Through Social-First Storytelling”
VG, Oslo, Norway, “VG Promotes Quality Journalism Without Influencers”
Category 10: Best Newsletter
Regional/Local Brand
Aschendorff Medien, Münster, Germany, “Ortsgepräch Newsletter”
The Boston Globe, United States, “Starting Point Newsletter”
The Edinburgh Minute, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, “The Edinburgh Minute”
Newsday, Melville, United States, “Fostering Conversations Through a Newsletter Dedicated to the Dangers of Long Island Roads”
Tiroler Tageszeitung, Innsbruck, Austria, “WhatsApp Channel Unterhaus”
National/International Brands
The Economist, London, United Kingdom, “The Economist Insider Newsletter”
The Guardian, London, United Kingdom, “Saturday Edition for The Guardian”
The Kyiv Independent, Kyiv, Ukraine, “The Kyiv Independent Ukraine Weekly Newsletter”
Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm, Sweden, “The Week With SvD”
De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, Netherlands, “Don’t Just Get the News. Get Me”
Category 11: Best New Digital Product
Regional/Local Brand
Bergens Tidende, Norway, “How Bergens Tidende Built the World’s Simplest Election Guide”
Funke Mediengruppe, Hamburg, Germany, “IMTEST/Vertical Hub: from Print Niche to Digital Powerhouse”
The Minnesota Star Tribune, Minneapolis, United States, “Strib Varsity”
Münchener Merkur, Munich, Germany, “News Connect: Same journalism. New Interface. AI Native”
Stavanger Aftenblad, Norway, “RUN: Covering Every Runner”
National/International Brands
Bauer Media, Hamburg, Germany, “Toni OS & Eva AI”
Bloomberg Media, New York, United States, “For You: Reimagining Personalization to Break the Algorithmic News Bubble”
Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina, “Clarín 80: Reimagining a News Archive as a Living Digital Product”
The Guardian, London, United Kingdom, “Guardian Secure Messaging”
The New Yorker, United States, “The New Yorker’s Shuffalo”
Category 12: Best Product Iteration
Regional/Local Brand
ACM/Explore, Sydney, Australia, “From Destination Site to Network Product: How Explore Travel Scaled Across 60+ Mastheads”
Amedia, Oslo, Norway, “Scaling Video Across Amedia”
Funke Mediengruppe, Berlin, Germany, “Audience First”
Manorama Online, Kottayam, India, “Manorama Online News App”
Stampen Media, Gothenburg, Sweden, “The Edition Reborn”
National/International Brands
Bloomberg Media, New York, United States, “Bloomberg Search — From Scroll to Solution: Search That Gets You There”
CNA, Mediacorp, Singapore, “CNA App Revamp”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, “Reinventing Der Tag — How F.A.Z. Turned a Freemium News Product Into a Premium News Experience”
Kauppalehti, Helsinki, Finland, “Kauppalehti Stock Market Service”
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, Germany, “From EU Bot to Germany Election Assistant: Iterating AI Election Tools”
Category 13: Best Use of Generative AI
Regional/Local Brand
Hearst Newspapers, San Francisco, United States, “How Hearst Newspapers Uses Generative AI to Expand Civic Coverage”
Münchener Merkur, Munich, Germany, “The.Lab Agent Space: Human-in-the-Loop in AI-Augmented Storytelling”
OVB Media, Rosenheim, Germany, “Breaking the Language Barrier at the Speed of the Tour de France”
Stampen Media, Gothenburg, Sweden, “When Generative AI Became Everyone’s Job”
Stuff Group, Christchurch, New Zealand, “Who Owns Christchurch”
National/International Brands
Mediafin, Brussels, Belgium, “From Brief to Booked in Minutes: TrustIQ’s Responsible GenAI for Data-Driven Campaign Proposals”
La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina, “From Experimentation to Infrastructure: Generative AI at La Nación”
The Nikkei Online Edition, Chiyoda-ku, Japan, “Ask! Nikkei: A Traceable AI Chatbot Driving Subscriber Engagement”
The Telegraph, London, United Kingdom, “Segment-Aware Analytics”
The Wall Street Journal, New York, United States, “Surfacing the Story: How WSJ’s ORCA Unlocks the Podcast Universe”
Category 14: Best Revenue Diversification Strategy
Regional/Local Brand
Le Devoir, Montréal, Canada, “New Business Stream at Le Devoir”
Funke Mediengruppe, Hamburg, Germany, “IMTEST/Vertical Hub: from Print Niche to Digital Powerhouse”
News Corp, Melbourne, Australia, “Newscorp Price Harmonisation Program”
NZME, Auckland, New Zealand, “Diversifying Solutions to Become Growth Partners”
The Times of India Metro Supplements, Mumbai, India, “Bombay Times Lounge”
National/International Brands
Australian Financial Review, North Sydney, Australia, “Financial Review for Business”
Bild, Berlin, Germany, “Bild Kaufberater”
Dainik Jagran, New Delhi, India, “Lights. Cities. Action”
