The Newspaper Works announces Newspaper of the Year finalists; winners announced on Sept 11
The Newspaper Works has today announced the finalists for the PANPA 2015 Newspaper of the Year awards.
More than 700 entries were submitted to this year’s awards, known as the PANPAs, which cover print and digital newspaper publishing, photography, publishing innovation and print and production. A further 450 entries were submitted for the Advertising & Marketing awards, whose finalists were announced late last month. The Newspaper of the Year awards are sponsored by Norske Skog.
A $10,000 scholarship, called the Hegarty Award, for the year’s outstanding young news publishing executive, is also part of the awards. This special award is sponsored by MediaSuper for the first time this year, which is also supporting the popular photography categories.
The winners for both awards nights will be announced at gala functions at The Hilton Hotel, Sydney, on September 10-11, as part of the annual Future Forum. Keynote speakers at the Future Forum include WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell and News Corp’s global Senior Vice president of Strategy, Raju Narisetti.
Major daily and weekend mastheads from Australia and New Zealand submitted entries for the awards this year, as well as entries from the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Says Mark Hollands, CEO, The Newspaper Works: “Feedback from the panel of judges suggests that this has been the most competitive awards for daily and weekend newspapers for a very long time. Newspapers this year have been forthright and courageous, and mixed with their various approaches to entertaining provocation.
“I don’t think there can ever have been a more challenging time to be an editor – polarising social and political issues, commercial pressures, social media that mostly feeds off your work, great stories to chase and break and a million micro-decisions to make every day.
“Our newspapers have retained a high standard of journalism while evolving to compete in an increasingly fragmented landscape of content diversity and technology choice. Their contribution to our societies has been, and continues to be, a foundation around which our lives are built. Even if some do not read the papers, or are openly critical of them, the truth remains that so much of the information we all consume is originally created in newsrooms of our newspapers. I would like to congratulate all the finalists for their great work.”
A mix of panels and independent judges oversaw this year’s awards. Hollands said no category had fewer than three judges and, overall, almost 90 judges volunteered their time this year.