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XMA Cross Media Award winners announced

VIENNA: Ten media companies have won 2011 XMA Cross Media Awards, the annual prize from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) that focused this year on paid-for content apps for smartphones and tablets.
XMA Cross Media Award winners announced

The XMAs, now in its sixth edition, honour companies that are using a wide variety of platforms - print, web, mobile, video and more - to deliver editorial and advertising content in innovative ways. This year's awards were presented Monday, 10 October 2011, at the IFRA Expo in Vienna as part of WAN-IFRA's World Newspaper Week.

"I was very happy and proud to see that storytelling is dominating over simply technical details or design enhancements," said Mario Garcia, CEO/founder of Garcia Media and XMA juror. "The editors, publishers and art directors seem to have made the story the protagonist. That's a good thing, a fantastic lesson for all of us to get inspiration from." More on the awards, including overviews of all the entries, can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/xma.

XMA Cross Media Awards 2011 winners:


  • VG+, Verdens Gang, Norway
  • Sunday Times, News International Newspapers, UK
  • Die Schwäbische, Schwäbische Zeitung Online, Germany
  • Welt HD, Axel Springer, Germany
  • RP Plus, RP Online, Germany
  • Bloomberg Businessweek+, Bloomberg News, USA
  • VG's TV-Guide for iPhone, iPad, Verdens Gang, Norway
  • Aftenposten, Aftenposten Multimedia, Norway
  • Ekspress Pro, Eesti Ajalehed, Estonia
  • Style Living, Media Corp, Singapore

The international jury, which included Garcia, judged the publishers' apps based on the following criteria: the app in its environment, consistency in design, content, integration of components, business model and overall impression.

The winning apps showed how publishers are tailoring content to reach a desired audience, readers who are willing to pay for that content. In some cases this meant a broad offer and in others very niche content.

The winning entries will be on display at a special exhibition at IFRA Expo (10-12 October 2011 in Vienna) in the Media Port, Hall A, Stand A695 of the Reed Messe.

The XMA Cross Media Awards 2011 are presented by WAN-IFRA and sponsored by Adobe and Woodwing.

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