The winners of WAN-IFRA’s prestigious annual Digital Media Awards Worldwide, recognising outstanding achievements in digital media by the news industry, were announced in Taiwan on 28 June during a ceremony at the World News Media Congress 2023.
The awards acknowledge excellence and groundbreaking digital innovation across a range of categories that recognise the changing way people receive and engage with news. The nine categories are best news site, best subscription and trust initiatives, best use of video, best podcast, best data visualisation, best e-paper concept, best audience engagement and best newsletter.
The awards are the news media industry's only truly global digital media competition. To qualify, finalists had to first win their category at the regional Digital Media Awards, held this past year in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas or South Asia. The independent judges chose the following companies and projects, from five continents, as winners of the 2023 Digital Media Awards Worldwide.
And the winners are:
Best Data Visualisation
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong: Life in Hong Kong’s shoebox housing
What the Jury said: “The story is an incredibly powerful way to communicate the realities of housing in HK, making great use of data visualisation to really help the public understand both the numbers as well as the lived experience of people who are renting these subdivided units, achieving all this while being respectful of the people the team has interviewed and their privacy.”
“A masterpiece in data and visual journalism, this feature informs the reader in a simple-to-understand yet powerful way. The visualisations are clever, putting the scale into perspective (compared to a car, a prison cell...) which is helpful for understanding the problem. The designs are beautiful and preserve the privacy of those who barely have any to begin with. I was very impressed with this entry that truly stands out among this year's contenders. Bravo.”
Best Digital Subscription Initiative
Clarín, Argentina: Moving from a metered to a smart paywall
What the Jury said: “Clarín can clearly stake claim to being one of the true innovators in the digital subscription world.”
Best e-paper Concept
NPG Digital, Germany: New NPG e-paper product
What the Jury said: “The SWP application provides the most important news in the region and presents them according to the location of the reader. A novel way in which the traditional local newspaper enters the digital world with updated and personalised regional news. This way, audiences can find out what is happening in the region, both in the newspaper and in the e-paper.”
Best in Audience Engagement
Aftenposten Junior, Norway: How a birthday party in Minecraft made a massive impact on brand awareness, engagement and sales
What the Jury said: “This is a truly original – and ambitious – project. Clear goals and results. Creative partnership with experts – and a celeb.”
Best News Website
STAT, USA: The Leading Site Covering Health, Medicine, and Science
What the Jury said: “This is an impressive and important site geared to a specific interest that is of major interest to a general population. Deep content is all-encompassing- text, video, podcasts and even e-books – a value-added for the Stat community.”
“STAT knows who its audiences are – and they're unapologetic about meeting their needs.” -
“Niche websites may in some ways have an easier job to do than large, generalist news websites in these competitions because they have the luxury of focusing on one topic and doing it incredibly well. In this case, it's immediately obvious that STAT is a must-read for health professionals in terms of the quality and depth of its content as well as its stylish, modern UX that's so easy on the eye. The site is also well organised and balances audience engagement tactics (newsletters, events) with enough prominence against the content offering.”
Best Newsletter
The Washington Post, USA: Climate Coach
Whay the Jury said: “'Climate Coach' is a smart and interesting newsletter that gives readers answers to deal with the climate crisis, one of the most urgent problems of our time. It has a friendly tone, includes a variety of formats (text, charts, gifs...) and promotes engagement with the audience. All these elements are the perfect formula to build a community.”
Best Podcast
The Outlaw Ocean Project, USA: The Outlaw Ocean Podcast
What the Jury said: “The Outlaw Ocean Podcast is a production of premium quality, in terms of originality of content, technical prowess and unique story-telling. The hero/narrator is able to share exclusive journalism, deep personal experiences and is opening doors on an Ocean world that as a listener I did not even know existed. The access is amazing. This high-standard classical journalism is reporter driven rather than audience-centric. This is why I marked it down on the "targeted content" criteria.”
Honorary Mention to Stuff, New Zealand: Jo vs Cancer
Best Trust Initiative
Legit Media Group, Nigeria: Media Literacy Campaign
What the Jury said: “Bravo to this publication for this outstanding media literacy campaign – the right campaign, for the right audience at the right time. The need for media literacy, and the media trust it can potentially create, is never greater than during an election cycle. This initiative effectively utilised the digital spaces where young voters live to aim to create deeper engagement and public understanding of the need for "real news" and the risks of misinformation.”
Best Use of Video
News24/Media24, South Africa: DOCUMENTARY: Killed For Being Queer
What the Jury said: "Tough reporting from the front lines of a serious topic in SA society. Terrific interview-led reporting and photojournalistic approach to the filming.”