The Australian wins newspaper of the year while Fairfax says audience applauded more loudly for its digital victories
The Australian won the top prize at last night’s PANPA Newspaper of the Year Awards.
The Australian’s Paul Whittaker accepts the newspaper of the year title
The News Corp owned masthead won in the national/ metropolitan category of daily newspaper of the year.
The PANPA Awards, which have their origins in the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association and are now organised by industry trade body NewsMediaWorks, were presented in Sydney.
Other major winners saw Fairfax Media’s AFR Weekend named weekend newspaper of the year, and Fairfax Media’s smh.com.au win national/ metropolitan website of the year.
Fairfax’s Newcastle Herald won regional daily of the year and the company’s The Land won non-daily regional nespsaper of the year.
The AFR won the best mobile site or app category for its iPad app.
Meanwhile, Fairfax today issued a press release claiming that support in the room was loudest for Fairfax victories:
“Fairfax’s winning streak was such that some thought they were at ‘the Fairfax Media awards’ – but these awards aren’t some sort of company-run backslapping,” a Fairfax Media spokesperson said.
“We’re thrilled to have our peers and colleagues in the news media industry paying tribute to the genuine competitive edge that Fairfax has – particularly in digital news media – and the unmatched pace we are setting in delivering publishing innovation across Australia and New Zealand.
“The room erupted into the loudest of applauses for each and every Fairfax win – high praise which properly goes to all the people who work tirelessly to make Fairfax’s newspapers and websites as great as they can be.
Erik Jensen, editor of Schwartz Media’s The Saturday Paper, won The Hegarty Prize, which is an overseas study bursary awarded to the industry’s most talented young newspaper executive of the year.
The win for The Australian comes nine months after Paul Whittaker took the helm as editor-in-chief following the retirement of Chris Mitchell.
The awards follow Thursday night’s sister PANPA awards for newspaper marketing and advertising, which saw Fairfax Media’s Michael Laxton win marketer of the year and Fairfax Media’s trade marketing team win marketing team of the year. News Corp’s Queensland community titles agency team won sales team of the year, while TheTelegraph’s David Warren was sales manager of the year and News Community Media’s Tara Duncan was sales person of the year.
“Our news media brands are among the best in the world and this year’s award winners were no exception. Our judges overwhelmingly remarked on the high quality of influential journalism and the diversity of entertaining, provocative and often courageous ways in which news media is engaging audiences,” NewsMediaWorks CEO, Mark Hollands, said.
The full Newspaper of the Year winners list:
NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Community
Manly Daily – News Corp Australia
Regional
Newcastle Herald – Fairfax Media
National/Metropolitan
The Australian – News Corp Australia
WEEKEND NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
AFR Weekend – Fairfax Media
NON-DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Community
Mandurah Mail – Fairfax Media
Regional
The Land – Fairfax Media
DIGITAL NEWS SITE OF THE YEAR
Community
The Maitland Mercury maitlandmercury.com.au
Regional
Newcastle Herald herald.com.au
National / Metropolitan
The Sydney Morning Herald smh.com.au
PHOTOGRAPHY
PORTRAIT
Community
Smoking Actor – Jon Hewson, Fremantle Gazette
Regional
Playing in Ash – Wesley Monts, Townsville Bulletin
National / Metropolitan
Ahmed Kelly – Alexander Coppel, Herald Sun
FEATURES AND LIFESTYLE
Community
High Fliers – Sitthixay Ditthavong, Riverine Herald
Regional
Nudist Nomads… No Tan Lines Here – Elise Derwin, NT News
National / Metropolitan
Stories of Hope – Jason Edwards, Herald Sun
SPORT
Community
Title Defence – Braden Fastier, Manly Daily
Regional
White Water Wonder – Jon Gellweiler, South Western Times
National / Metropolitan
Fernando Alonso’s Exit – Alexander Coppel, Herald Sun
NEWS
Community
The Crop – Braden Fastier, Manly Daily
Regional
Pot of Gold – Glenn Hampson, Gold Coast Bulletin
National / Metropolitan
Storm Front on Bondi Beach – Rohan Kelly, The Daily Telegraph
ENVIRONMENT
Sydney Print Centre, News Corp Australia – Zero Waste Program
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
SINGLE-WIDTH
Community
Sharp Daily, Taiwan
Regional
Apple Daily Publications – Apple Daily, Taiwan
National / Metropolitan
Apple Daily, Hong Kong
DOUBLE-WIDTH
Community
Ormiston Print Centre, Fairfax Media – World News Weekly
Regional
Yandina Print Centre, APN News & Media – Gympie Times
National / Metropolitan
Chullora Print Centre, News Corp Australia – The Daily Telegraph
PRE-PRINT OR SUPPLEMENT – (OPEN)
Cairns Print Centre, News Corp Australia – Off the Leash (NT News)
PRINT CENTRE OF THE YEAR
Yandina Print Centre, APN News & Media
HEGARTY SCHOLARSHIP
Erik Jensen – The Saturday Paper
DIGITAL
Best Mobile Site or App (Open)
AFR iPad app – The Australian Financial Review, Fairfax Media
Best Niche / Specialty App or Microsite (Open)
The Big Sleep – theage.com.au, Fairfax Media
Digital Publishing Innovation of the Year (Open)
AFR Innovation Survey – The Australian Financial Review, Fairfax Media.
- The Australian’s CEO Nicholas Gray will give a keynote presentation on The Australian’s transition from print publication to multiplatform masthead at this month’s Publish conference, organised by Mumbrella
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Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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