All About Newspapers

WAN-IFRA announces 24 World Young Reader Prize winners
From India The Hindu, Mid Day, Mathrubhumi Daily and I-Next to be awarded for their winning projects which effectively attract youths

Continuing efforts for engaging youths, the newspapers across the world and India as well are increasingly coming forth with innovative projects. In WAN-IFRA’s annual World Young Reader Prize competition 2011, the 24 winning projects demonstrate there is much that newspapers can do to attract the next generation of readers. “Our jury of past prize winners and young readership development experts was particularly impressed with the range of great practice this year, from a deceptively simple literacy project to a very effective newspaper-based social network for young people interested in business,” commented Aralynn McMane, executive director of young readership development at WAN-IFRA. From India, while last year only I-Next and Malayala Manorama had won these prizes, this year The Hindu, Mid Day, Mathrubhumi Daily and I-Next are being awarded for their winning projects.

With support of Norway-based paper producer Norske Skog, WAN-IFRA annually awards the World Young Reader Prizes to newspapers that have devised the best project or activity to attract young readers. The year, they honoured 24 projects all over the world, with top winners from Brazil, Indonesia, India, Portugal, The Philippines and the United States. From the World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year – the Jawa Pos in Indonesia – through the winners of jury commendations, the 2011 Young Reader Prize winners show how newspapers can successfully appeal to younger audiences in the digital age. The awards will be presented on October 12 in Vienna during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum.

The Jawa Pos newspaper from Indonesia has been named World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year for 2011, and also top prize winner for enduring excellence. This newspaper has published a daily youth section, called DetEksi, since 2000. The programme combines news, interviews, and discussions in print with an enormous off-page marketing and engagement strategy. DetEksi organizes, Indonesia’s largest annual youth conference, bringing more than 5,000 middle and high school students together to learn and compete in topics from journalism to sports to quiz bowl. DetEksi also organizes education programmes in schools, a student journalism competition, a regional basketball league, and concerts. According to the jury, “Jawa Pos has done an outstanding job with an enduring, substantial, successful commitment to engage young people on and off the printed page. Its daily three-page DetEksi effort is more than a standard newspaper youth section. It’s a complete strategy for finding, engaging, and retaining young readers. Most importantly, it has worked.” Other top winners from overseas included: Wall Street Journal (USA) in ‘Editorial’ category for its investigation into how companies secretly track children online; Diário de Notícias & Jornal de Notícias (Portugal) in ‘Making the News’ for Media Lab journalism learning center; Gazeta do Povo (Brazil) in ‘Newspapers in Education’ for research supporting ‘Read & Think (Ler e Pensar)’; Sinag Publishing and Printing Services (Philippines) and publishers of two weeklies in ‘Natasa Prize for Newspaper Printing Plants’ for its free journalism training seminars; and Glåmdalen (Norway) in ‘Public Service’ for its Politiskpepper election project.

From India, The Hindu is top winner in ‘Brand’ category. The daily organized a huge event that was branded as an opportunity to bring knowledge to those who need it the most. They mobilized both young and old in the city of Chennai, and collected 2,75,000 old and new books in just five days. Collected books were organized according to age groups and distributed to schools with the help of various non-governmental organizations. As per judges, “One of the most striking ideas in this project was to build a mammoth wall of books in a public venue in order to highlight the endeavour. This effort made for a very good, simple but visible PR concept with amazing numbers. We also very much appreciated about those books that could not be used were recycled to make notebooks, ensuring effective use of all donations.”

Brand (Jury Commendation) prize winner is Mid Day for its Smoke Free City campaign. This three-week long multimedia campaign in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune encouraged young people and their families to kick the smoking habit. Celebrities and organizations joined in the effort, including the cities´ most important corporations. The paper organized street marketing activities and the effort received extensive editorial coverage. Branding was done at various locations, such as cafes and movie theaters. Social media was used effectively, such as SMS’s hourly tips to stop smoking. The judges commented, “This project was an interesting idea to use a pledge mechanism to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle, with impressive results. The paper involved both young and old in the community and collected support from usually neglected institutions, such as private companies. After the main campaign was completed, Mid Day continued to remind its readers about the perils of smoking, making it a continuous and long -lasting contribution and connection.”

Mathrubhumi Daily was declared as Public Service (Jury Commendation) prize winner for its SEED project. The three-year-old SEED project, which is endorsed by the Department of Education, aimed to creating awareness among 10 to 17 year-olds about the importance of protecting and preserving the environment. Its secondary intention was to develop good reading habits in young people and familiarize them with Mathrubhumi’s brand. In its first year SEED had 3,087 member schools, which increased by more than 2,000 schools in 2010, bringing the total number of participating schools to over 5,000. A team of 65 staff members, from factory workers to senior managers, all with a passion for environmental conservation, trained teachers from each education district. The teachers then worked with their students to set up SEED clubs and carry out a wide range of activities, including planting saplings, energy conservation, recycling and making posters. Last year cash prizes amounting to a total of Rs. 20 lakh were distributed to winning schools, students and teachers. Local environmental reports from schools were published in local editions of the paper, which helped focus public attention on the various problems raised. Detailed stories and editorials were also written about prize-winning schools, which inspired other schools to join and led students to begin implementing SEED programmes at home. The judges opined, “This massive environmental project with huge investment from the newspaper and its partners deserved special recognition based on the sheer numbers involved – impressive indeed! It was fantastic that so many people from within the publishing organisation were involved in the project in a really hands-on way, giving their time and expertise because they believed in the cause. We are sure this project has gone a long way towards improving employee relations within the organization as staff from various levels and departments worked together as volunteers for its success. This concept is something that can be replicated by other newspapers to build team spirit and a common goal for the greater good.”

Also awarded last year, I-Next won BRAND (Special Mention) prize for its ‘Bikeathon’ initiative. More than 40,000 persons rode their bicycles across 12 cities of India for 14 kilometers, to celebrate the spirit of fun, freedom and fitness in an eco-friendly way. Marketing included both conventional and unconventional methods, such as taking bikes to businesses and giving employees a framed picture with the bikes. Editorial tie-ins included a celebrity and biker´s column, plus extensive coverage of the event. Merchandising was also branded and distributed while a multimedia campaign was also included to spread the word. Bikeathon was sponsored by a main company, plus other secondary gift bearers. The judges pointed out that with excellent pre-event publicity, the Bikeathon took place in 12 cities simultaneously, allowing the newspaper to connect with its young audience both with its editorial content and the main biking event itself. This was a clever idea with impressive results that promoted health-consciousness and fitness by a newspaper with an impressive history of innovation.