Winners have emerged in the 2019 African Digital Media Awards held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday.

The winners were announced on the first day of the ongoing two-day Digital Media Africa conference hosted by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers.

According to a statement by WAN-IFRA, the judges applauded the winners for “compelling, eye-opening, and in-depth projects in all eight categories.”

BBC Media Action Arewa Facebook page, Nigeria won the Best in Social Media Engagement award, while the News24 South Africa won the award for the Best Use of Online Video (including VR) with its documentary ‘Buried Truth: Unearthing the story of murdered farmworker Adam Pieterse.’

Other winners include: Best Data Visualisation – Dominion, Code for Africa, South Africa; Digital News Start-up- Farmers for Change, Food for Mzansi, South Africa; Best Digital Project to Engage Younger and/or Millennial Audiences – M&G 200 Young South Africans, Mail & Guardian, South Africa; Best Native Advertising / Branded Content Campaign – The Anthem Project, 24.com, The Anthem Project, South Africa;

Best News Website or Mobile Service – Daily Maverick, Daily Maverick – South Africa; Best Paid Content Strategy (incl. pay wall, membership or crowdfunding models) – 2019 – Maverick Insider, Daily Maverick, South Africa.

The statement also quoted the CEO of WAN-IFRA, Vincent Peyrègne as saying,

“We’re really excited to see the success of African news startups like Daily Maverick and Food for Mzansi, alongside impressive projects from bigger players like the BBC and Media24.” 

“These awards show the potential for digital news to be not only engaging and innovative but also financially sustainable.”

The statement added that winners of the African Digital Media Awards are automatically entered into the World Digital Media Awards competition, to be announced in Spain during the World News Media Congress on June 17-19, 2020.

The panel judges selected from across the continent included: Sheena Adams, Accountability Lab Global Communications Manager, South Africa; Astrid Ascar, Consultant & Trainer, South Africa; Catherine Gicheru, Country Lead, Code for Kenya, ICFJ Knight Fellow, Kenya; Dapo Olorunyomi, Premium Times Newspaper Publisher and CEO, Nigeria; Herman Manson, Founder and editor, MarkLives.com, South Africa. Jude Mathurine, Independent consultant & New Media lecturer, Media and Communications Department, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa;

Others included:  Murithi Mutiga, International Crisis Group Horn of Africa Project Director, Kenya; Anna Nimiriano, Juba Monitor Editor in Chief, South Sudan; Angela Quintal, Committee to Protect Journalists Africa Program Coordinator, USA; Chris Roper Deputy CEO at Code For Africa, South Africa; Gus Silber, Award-winning journalist, author, scriptwriter, speechwriter and media trainer, South Africa and Nomusa Taylor-Dube, Senior Strategy Consultant, Kenya.

 

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