Wan-Ifra's Best practice in digital innovation report includes Nigeria and SA case studies

Image supplied. The Wan-ifra's Best Practice in Innovation report features best practice case studies from Nigeria and South Africa

Both featured with the other seven winners of the association’s annual Digital Media Award Worldwide competition.

From Nigeria, Ligit Media Group won Best Trust Initiative for Legit.ng Media Literacy Campaign.

The South African winner featured is News24, Media24 for Best Use of Video for Killed For Being Queer.

The cream of the crop

“As a judge on the final competition and some of the regionals, what always stands out to me is the passion, creativity and professionalism that exemplify the cream of the crop.

"Like News24 in South Africa with its documentary – which won Best Use of Video Worldwide – that helped to expose injustice in hate crime against the country’s LGBTQIA+," wrote Wan-Ifra director of insights Dean Roper, who judged a number of the awards this year, in the report introduction.

“We’re incredibly happy that it resonated with our audience and with the judges as an important body of work. It was important to us to give people a glimpse of the struggles the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa faces daily,” says Sharlene Rood, multimedia editor at News24.

The winners were announced in late June at Wan-Ifra’s World News Media Congress, this year in Taipei, Taiwan, but the report delves deeper into each case, hearing from the respective leaders of each media company to find out their approaches, strategies, teamwork, outcomes and updates on the projects.

Winners covered

The report covers the following winners:

• Best Data Visualisation: Life in Hong Kong’s Shoebox Housing, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
  
• Best Digital Subscription Initiative: Moving from a metered to a smart paywall Clarín, Argentina
  
• Best ePaper Concept: New NPG e-paper product, NPG Digital, Germany
  
• Best in Audience Engagement: How a birthday party in Minecraft made a massive impact on brand awareness, engagement and sales, Aftenposten Junior, Norway
  
• Best News Website: The Leading Site Covering Health, Medicine, and Science, STAT, US
  
• Best Newsletter: Climate Coach, The Washington Post, US
  
• Best Podcast: The Outlaw Ocean Podcast, The Outlaw Ocean Project, US

Global best practice and innovation

“One of WAN-IFRA’s key commitments to our members and the industry is to shine a bright light on best practice and innovation from all corners of the globe,” says Vincent Peyregne, Wan-Ifra’s CEO.

“We strive to do that every day in the case studies we present on our content platforms, at our numerous regional and global events, and other initiatives. Ultimately, we celebrate much of that innovation in our Digital Media Awards – again, both regionally and globally."

He explains that the report is a concise showcase of the nine Worldwide winners. “It details the strategies behind their different initiatives or ongoing innovations, how it all resonated with their audiences, in terms of engagement and real results, and what it has meant to the respective organisations today and going forward."

In 2023, Wan-Ifra attracted nearly 700 entries to its various regional awards competitions. The winners of awards in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and South Asia determine the finalists for the Worldwide competition.

Those finalists are judged by an international jury of media professionals, experts and analysts – deciding on the nine winners for Digital Media Awards Worldwide in each category.

2024 competition

Wan-Ifra’s awards competition for 2024 is already underway.

This year there are two new categories in the Worldwide awards focused on AI – one for Best Use in Newsrooms and another for Best Use for Revenue Strategy.

The report, Best Practice in Innovation is available for Wan-Ifra members to download for free.

If you are a non-member interested in the report or joining WAN-IFRA, contact: customerservice@wan-ifra.org.