Winners announced at the WAN-IFRA’s African Digital Media Awards 2018 

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IPP Desk
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digital media awards

The 2018 African Digital Media Awards were announced in Johannesburg, South Africa, with finalists honored from across the continent. Winners from six different countries were announced in 10 different categories, including three new categories introduced this year.

Winners of the African Digital Media Awards will automatically be entered into the World Digital Media Awards, to be announced at the World News Media Congress in June 2019.

“We’ve been very excited to see how the African Digital Media Awards have developed over the last three years,” said Nick Tjaardstra, director – Europe & Africa, WAN-IFRA. “We had a really good mix of grassroots start-ups as well as big players in the various categories and we are confident that the continent will once again do well when competing in the global awards,” said Tjaardstra.

“It’s particularly good to see the high quality of projects on Branded Content and Reader Revenue. Digital news needs a sustainable business model – and everyone can learn from the winners. We extend our congratulations to the winners and huge thanks to all the judges,” he added.

The awards were judged by industry experts which included Astrid Ascar, consultant and trainer;  Barbara Kaija, editor in chief, Vision Group;  Catherine Gicheru, country lead, Code for Kenya, ICFJ Knight Fellow, Kenya;  Chris Roper, deputy chief executive officer at Code for Africa;  Jude Mathurine, senior lecturer: Media/Head of Programme: Journalism at Cape Peninsula University of Technology;  Koketso Moeti, community organizer, advocacy strategist and writer;  Lene Pettersen, associate professor at Kristiania University College; Toyosi Ogunseye, head of West Africa, BBC; and Herman Manson, consultant, South Africa.

The Awards were presented at the WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Africa 2018 held in Johannesburg on 23 November 2018. Leading digital experts gathered at the conference to explore new digital revenue models and how best to engage loyal readers on the continent. The official hashtag for the 2018 African Digital Media Awards is #DMAfrica18. Coverage of Digital Media events can be found at the link on wan-ifra.org​​

Speakers at the Digital Media Africa 2018 conference included Ted Kudinoff, head of Plus, Aftonbladet, Sweden, Carl Jordan, head of Media at Kwesé, South Africa, Riaan Wolmarans, managing editor – Digital at Tiso Blackstar Group, South Africa, Serena Chaudhry, editor, Africa Journal at Reuters, founder & managing director, frayintermedia, South Africa, Alex Okosi, executive vice president & managing director, Viacom International Media Networks Africa, BET International, Gary Alfonso, consultant – media development, training, operations, marketing & sales, digital newsrooms and Bilal Randeree, the  Africa director of the Media Development Investment Fund.

This year’s winners for the 2018 African Digital Media Awards are:

Best News Website or Mobile Service – Maparchives.ma, Moroccan News Agency – Morocco

  • Runners-up: Daily Kick – Soccer. News. Live Scoring, 24.com – South Africa | The Daily Maverick, Daily Maverick – South Africa

Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Website or Mobile Service -NairobiNews Website, Nation Media Group – Kenya

  • Runner-up: Daily Nation Sports Section, Nation Media Group – Kenya

Best Use of Online Video (including VR) – Ethiopian priest’s journey, BBC – Ethiopia

  • Runners-up: Mapping the Murder of Hannah Cornelius, Tiso Blackstar Group (Pty) Ltd – South Africa | Hashtag Our Stories, Hashtag Our SA – South Africa

Best Data Visualisation – Rahat Mustafa, Osun Elections in Nigeria, BBC, Nigeria

  • Runner-up: Abiodun Alade, Kids in toxic stress, Media Trust (Daily Trust) – Nigeria

Best Reader Revenue Initiative – Netwerk24’s Lifestyle migration, 24.com – South Africa

  • Runner-up: Maverick Insider, The Daily Maverick – South Africa

Best Branded Content Project – News24 Mzansi, through her eyes, 24.com and Michael de Beer, South Africa, Just Delicious, Media24 – South Africa

  • Runner-up: BRICS Media Forum South Africa, Independent Media – South Africa

Best Digital News Start-up supported by Reuters for digital innovation in Africa – Daily Kick – Soccer. News. Live Scoring, 24.com – South Africa

  • Runner-up: Business Insider South Africa, 24.com – South Africa

Best in Social Media Engagement – Tracey Gander, Women’s Month #WeRemember, Independent Media – South Africa

  • Runner-up: LIT360, Nation Media Group – Kenya

Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Airtel Case Study, Nation Media Group – Kenya

  • Runner-up: Lisa Coates, Connecting South Africans, Independent Media

Best Innovation to Engage Youth Audiences – Children’s Radio Foundation, WhatsApp Integration Project – South Africa

  • Runner-up: Hekayat Gameela (Gameela stories), medinaportal – Egypt

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.

The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.

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As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.

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