New Media scoops lion's share at PICA Awards 2007

The winners were announced yesterday evening (Wednesday, 7 November 2007) at the glittering PICA Awards gala function held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Gauteng.

New Media's EAT IN held the leading position in the category Overall Publishing Excellence, winning the award for best Annuals, Directories, Product Guides and Special Editions; while Hip2B2 was also named winner of the Education, Health and Conservation Award (Customer Publishing).

VISI won the best Cover of the Year Award for their inspired Spring 2006 edition, while Erns Grundling of New Media's Insig (recently re-launched as Boeke Insig) walked away with the best Feature Writer of the Year Award in the category Journalistic Excellence, for his insightful feature article entitled ‘Matjiesfontein se droomdraers' (Matjiesfontein's dream carriers).

New Media also collected a further six Highly Commended certificates.

Over the past five years New Media has consistently won more PICA Awards than any other publishing company in South Africa. The PICA Awards follow hot on the heels of news of New Media's international success in winning a Gold Ozzie Award at this year's Folio Awards held in New York, for its premier décor magazine, VISI.

In total New Media has over 36 customer publications in its stable, and is a leading force in raising and changing the profile of South African contract publishing, both locally and abroad. New Media has, since its inception in 1997, been instrumental in creating award-winning magazines for some of the biggest brands in South Africa, among which industry giants Edgars, Mercedes, Woolworths, Multichoice, Sun International, BMW Motorcycles and Plascon can be named.

Says New Media's Editorial Director Irna van Zyl: "We are very proud to once again have so many of our magazine titles among the winners of the prestigious PICA Awards and are eternally grateful for all the hard work and dedication of our staff. We also extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to our clients for investing their trust in us. We regard the PICA Awards as South Africa's ‘Oscars' of magazine publishing awards, and this is indeed an exceptional honour."

New Media is renowned for delivering customer-focused work of exceptional editorial and design standards. Adds van Zyl: "We believe the secret of our success is that we employ the best editors, the best journalists and the best art directors, and this translates into providing real value for our readers. We also invest a substantial amount of money and time in training and creating opportunities for all our staff to be exposed to world class speakers. Awards such as the PICAS reward these efforts. We commend the organisers of the PICA Awards: the Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA), who continually inspire us to achieve even greater levels of excellence."