The International News Media Association (INMA) today announced categories for the 2021 Global Media Awards competition that will reward outstanding achievement in growing the brand, audience, and revenue of news companies. 

A Global Media Awards competition Web site has been launched at www.inma.org/awards. 

The competition will open for entry submissions on November 1, with a deadline to submit entries on January 29, 2021.

INMA announced 20 categories for the 2021 competition, including nine that are new – with heavy emphasis on subscriptions and data. INMA also unveiled an expansion of the competition to include multi-brand media groups for the first time. 

The categories are:

News Brands 

1.     Best Brand Awareness Campaign 

2.     Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign 

3.     Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand 

4.     Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement 

Media Platforms 

5.     Best Use of Print

6.     Best Use of Video 

7.     Best Use of Audio 

8.     Best Use of Social Media 

Subscriptions 

9.    Best Initiative to Register Users (new) 

10.  Best Initiative to Acquire Subscribers (new) 

11.  Best Initiative to Retain Subscribers (new) 

12.  Best Subscription Niche Product (new)

Business Development 

13.  Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales 

14.  Best Execution of Native Advertising 

15.  Best Digital Commerce Initiative (new)

16.  Best Product and Tech Innovation 

Data and Insights

17.  Best Use of Data to Drive Subscriptions, Content, or Product Design (new)

18.  Best Use of Data to Drive Advertising (new)

19.  Best Use of Data to Automate or Personalise (new)

20.  Best Data Dashboard (new)

Media companies may submit entries, based on the emanation of the work, in one of three segments: 

• National brands
• Regional brands
• Groups 

Adding media groups is a major expansion of the competition for 2021 and the first time INMA has rewarded groups. (Look here to see where your company fits within INMA segments.) 

“INMA is excited to put new emphasis on subscription and data categories to reflect the passion behind the subjects in the news industry,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO. “We also want to spotlight the fantastic work by central offices and shared-service operations at media groups. This is a major expansion of the Global Media Awards, and we hope it resonates with media companies worldwide.” 

INMA officials acknowledged the COVID-19 crisis will have an impact on the Global Media Awards competition, and category selections are designed in 2021 to reflect that impact. “While INMA has rewarded excellence in news media since 1937, no year quite compares to the past 12 months of a global pandemic that has profoundly impacted the media business,” Wilkinson said. “INMA aspires to capture the progress of the news industry’s transformation and reinvention through this crisis.”

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