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Week ending August 5, 2009

WAN-IFRA - World Young Reader Prizes: The Winners for 2009 - August 5, 2009
from Larry Kilman/WAN-IFRA

Zero Hora of Brazil and Express & Echo of the United Kingdom have been named World Young Reader Newspapers of the Year for two vital kinds of excellence in the annual competition organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishing (WAN-IFRA).

The awards are part of WAN-IFRA’s annual World Young Reader Prize competition, which honors innovative newspapers that have devised the best project or activity to attract young readers. The awards are made in six categories: branding, public service, press freedom, editorial, and in “making the news”.

The awards, supported by the global newsprint supplier Norske Skog, will be presented during “Making New Connections,” the 8th World Young Reader Conference, set for 27 to 30 September in Prague.

Conference participants will receive DVDs with full details about all the projects and hear the winners talk about how they did it. A summary of the projects can be found at http://www.wan-press.org/nie/articles.php?id=2176

“Through its all-encompassing view of youth as an integral part of its staff and a key part of its audience, Zero Hora has attained an astonishing loyalty level among the young,” the judges said. The paper’s management credits its wide-ranging “Total Youth Think” techniques for obtaining a 78 percent penetration rate among young people aged 20 to 29 years, and a 71 percent penetration rate among those aged 15 to 19.

Zero Hora’s entry included an editorial linking to the “firsts” in a child’s life, a contest celebrating hyper local identity, and a promotion in which youth created an album using stickers and symbols from the paper to learn about Brazil’s 19th century revolutionary period.

“Express & Echo is a small daily (22 000 circulation) that is taking a big role in the crucial issue of our time: the environment,” the judges said. Express & Echo’s entry described its ‘Green Team Project’ to encourage youngsters to develop a relationship with their local newspaper as they learn to think green and produce school projects that will help the environment.

Other top awards were:

- Journal des Enfants of France, in the Press Freedom category, for “Free my Daddy!” special supplement focusing on the testimonials of the children of jailed journalists.

- Svobodnyi kurs of Russia, in the Newspapers in Education category, for the< adventure educational game "Strategy A," an innovative multi-platform use of newspaper content to learn about finance.

- Dagblad de Limburger/Limburgs Dagblad of The Netherlands, in the Brand category, for its election of the “Coolest Teacher in Limburg” project, which created links to students, to the community and to teachers in a fresh, fun manner.

- Malayala Manorama of India, in the Public Service category, for its “Serve As a Volunteer For Energy (SAVE)” contest that was an environmentally friendly reader participation opportunity that helped reduce household budgets and improve the environment.

- Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung of Germany, in the Editorial category, for its Blue magazine that was created from content generated by the Oscommunity social network, and which attracted new advertising.

- La Repubblica of Italy, in the Making the News category, for its relaunched Repubblica@scuola student reporter project that used all platforms and featured regular contact with real journalists to assure lessons about professional newsgathering.

The judges also awarded several Jury Commendations:

In the Newspapers in Education (NIE) category: Hamburger Abdenblatt of Germany for its “Reading Corner” and sponsors programme; Denver News Agency (USA) for its “When History Happens” multi-faceted project centered on the national presidential convention of the Democratic Party; and The Sun Sentinel (USA) for its “Publix Reading for Touchdown” partnership that creatively linked newspapers, sports and reading.

In the Brand category: Gôtesborg Posten of Sweden for “GP Young Stage” to engage local rock musicians and fans; and the Torquay Herald Express (United Kingdom) for its “Rock Stars” initiative to engage local rock musicians and fans, and for “Mod My Motor” to engage young owners of old cars.

In the Public Service category: Express & Echo (UK) for its “Green Team Project,” an expansion and extension of its highly effective environmental work; and Metro of Poland for “Round Table 2009,” which engaged youth in the future of the country and in new-tech citizenship.

In the Editorial category: Welt Kompakt of Germany for a wealth of innovation in editorial strategies to engage the young; El Tiempo of Colombia for “The City Never Told” project that offers a model of in-depth young reader reports; and Ilta Sanomat of Finland for its inventive “Obama Extra” supplement to coincide with inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president.

In the Making the News category: PlayBac Press (France) for its money-making journalism workshops for the very young.

Judges were past World Young Reader Prize winners from Australia, South Africa, Poland and Panama, plus Young Reader Advisory Committee members from Belgium and Spain. WAN-IFRA Golden Pen Laureates Dien Viet Hoat (Vietnam) and Pius Njawe (Cameroon), judged the press freedom category. In all, judges assessed 65 entries from 32 countries.