INMA today announced 40 first-place recipients during its 2024 Global Media Awards competition, with Helsingin Sanomat’s “Counterstrike of the Free Press” taking the global “Best in Show.”

During the awards ceremony at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the winners were unveiled across 20 categories aimed at surfacing innovation and best practices in news brands, optimising the use of media features, subscriptions, product, advertising and commerce, Artificial Intelligence, and newsroom innovation.

Photos from the evening can be found here after the conclusion of the awards gala.

Winning the coveted “Best in Show,” the top award of the evening, was Helsingin Sanomat in Finland for “Counterstrike of the Free Press,” a playable map that hid a secret room where independent information was provided by the newspaper in both Russian and English languages. Judges said this campaign showed an exceptional strategy and creative use of journalism to ensure the delivery of accurate news — an example of how media must think beyond its traditional avenues to get its message out.

The INMA competition, which has been rewarding media excellence since 1937, evaluates news media companies across two segments: national brands and regional brands. 

This year, two companies garnered two first places: Bergens Tidende from Norway and Stuff from New Zealand.

The 2024 Global Media Awards competition attracted 771 entries from 245 market-leading news media brands in 43 countries.  Participants included newspaper media, magazine media, digital media, television media, and radio media.

An international jury of 60 media executives from 23 countries selected 193 finalists earlier this year.

Judges also selected the best in six world regions from the finalists:

• Best in Africa: Daily Maverick for “Daily Maverick Sports Supporters’ Club” 
• Best in Asia/Pacific: News Corp Australia for “National Bush Summit Campaign”
• Best in Europe: Helsingin Sanomat in Finland for “Counterstrike of the Free Press” 
• Best in Latin America: Grupo El Comercio for “Todos Somos Santa”
• Best in North America: Bloomberg for “Context Changes Everything”
• Best in South Asia: India Today Group for “AI-Led Newsroom Transformation” 

“The 2024 Global Media Awards really highlighted how news media companies must think beyond the traditional to connect with their readers in this era of disruption and news avoidance,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “Unsurprisingly, this class of winning entries features some of the most innovative we’ve seen. We’re so proud of all our finalists.”

About INMA

The International News Media Association (INMA) is a global community of market-leading news media companies reinventing how they engage audiences and grow revenue. The INMA community consists of more than 21,000 members at +1,000 news media companies in +90 countries. INMA is the news media industry’s foremost ideas-sharing network with members connected via conferences, reports, Webinars, virtual meetings, an unparalleled archive of best practices, and strategic initiatives focused on digital subscriptions, artificial intelligence, product, advertising, newsrooms, and the emerging relationship between publishers and Big Tech platforms. Click here for more about INMA.

2024 Global Media Awards winners

Editor’s note: Regional brands represent a single brand serving a city or region. National brands represent a single brand with a national reach. Honourable mentions are listed alphabetically.

Category 1: Best Brand Awareness Campaign

Regional brands

• First Place: The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Unsubscribe”
• Second Place: Brisbane Times, Australia, “It’s Brisbane’s Time”
• Third Place: The Post, New Zealand, “Rebrand of The Post”
• Honourable Mention: Newsday, United States, “Newsday Journalist Branding Campaign”
• Honourable Mention: The Press and Journal, United Kingdom, “The P&J 275 Years As Your Voice”

National brands

• First Place: Bloomberg, United States, “Context Changes Everything: Bloomberg Media Brand Awareness”
• Second Place: Irish Independent, Ireland, “Irish Independent Masterbrand”
• Third Place: NZME, New Zealand, “The New Zealand Herald”
• Honourable Mention: Nation Media, Kenya, “Nation.Africa Paywall Campaign”
• Honourable Mention: Wyborcza.pl, Poland, “Read Over Manipulation”

Category 2: Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign 

Regional brands

• First Place: News Corp Australia, Australia, “National Bush Summit Campaign”
• Second Place: The Times of India, India, “Roads So Annoying!”
• Third Place: Bonnier News, Sweden, “Region Västernorrland — The World’s Worst Secret”
• Honourable Mention: Dainik Jagran — inext, India, “Fostering A Safer Digital Landscape For Young Generations: Fake Friends”
• Honourable Mention: Südkurier Medienhaus, Germany, “Supporter Campaign: We Are One Of You”

National brands

• First Place: Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, “Counterstrike of the Free Press”
• Second Place: The Times of India, India, “Unplastic India”
• Third Place: Stuff, New Zealand, “Cyclone Gabrielle Fundraiser”
• Honourable Mention: Harian Kompas, Indonesia, “Unforgotten Supporters”
• Honourable Mention: Jagran New Media, India, “Sach Ke Sathi: FactsUp Media Literacy Project”

Category 3: Best Use of an Event to Build a New Brand

Regional brands

• First Place: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, United States, “The South Got Something To Say”
• Second Place: News Corp Australia, Australia, “Future Series Presented by News Corp”
• Third Place: Hallandsposten, Sweden, “An Evening for the Book”
• Honourable Mention: Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, “Rocketeer Festival: The Conference For Future and Innovation”
• Honourable Mention: El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico, “From the Photo Archive: Clemente 3000th”

National brands

• First Place: De Telegraaf, Netherlands, “Political Leaders Editor-in-Chief for a Day”
• Second Place: HT Labs, India, “OTTplay Awards”
• Third Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “The Festival Experience”
• Honourable Mention: The Hindu, India, “The Hindu Our State Our Taste”
• Honourable Mention: Schibsted Media, Norway, “How We Created the Best Wine Fair in Norway to Build a News Brand”

Category 4: Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement

Regional brands

• First Place: Bergens Tidende, Norway, “A Personalized News Experience”
• Second Place: Reach, United Kingdom, “WhatsApp Communities and Channels: Using Direct Messaging to Drive Engagement and Revenue”
• Third Place: Fædrelandsvennen, Norway, “Fædrelandsvennen ung”
• Honourable Mention: NTM, Sweden, “Superengage by Hyperlocal Newsletters”
• Honourable Mention: Ostfriesen-Zeitung, Germany, “Future North Sea”

National brands

• First Place: The Washington Post, United States, “Newsprint 2024: Engaging Consumers Through Personalized Reading Insights, Captivating Storytelling, and Relevant Content Recommendations”
• Second Place: Expressen, Sweden, “Young Audience Focus Month”
• Third Place: Daily Maverick, South Africa, “Daily Maverick Sports Supporters’ Club”
• Honourable Mention: La Nación, Argentina, “TikTok Style Posts and Helpful Boxes: Creating the Article Format for Gen Z”
• Honourable Mention: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany, “Personalised Year Review for Subscribers of Süddeutsche Zeitung”

Category 5: Best New Video Product or Feature

Regional brands

• First Place: Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun, Canada, “On the Road”
• Second Place: Boston Globe, United States, “Boston Globe Today”
• Third Place: San Antonio Express-News, United States, “Ron From The Car”
• Honourable Mention: Rede Gazeta, Brazil, “Crimes Brutais”
• Honourable Mention: Russmedia, Austria, “Apprenticeship Campaign on VOL.AT”

National brands

• First Place: The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine, “War Crimes Investigations Unit”
• Second Place: Daily Maverick, South Africa, “Tribe One Dinokeng: Sony’s Disastrous ‘Fyre Festival’”
• Third Place: Agence France-Presse, France, “AFP Fact Check: How to Verify Information Online”
• Honourable Mention: HT Digital Streams, India, “Mint Presents Rollin’ with the Boss”
• Honourable Mention: The Straits Times, Singapore, “Ask The Next President Anything”

Category 6: Best New Audio/Voice Product or Feature

Regional brands 

• First Place: Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden, “#HerNameWas”
• Second Place: News Corp Australia, Australia, “Dying Rose”
• Third Place: Nordwest-Zeitung, Germany, “Podcast ‘Vdoma’/Zuhause”
• Honourable Mention: Mathrubhumi, India, “Pusthakvosky”
• Honourable Mention: Rheinische Post, Germany, “Audio Avatar”

National brands

• First Place: Stuff, New Zealand, “Newsable”
• Second Place: The Economist, United Kingdom, “Economist Podcasts+”
• Third Place: Ringier, Switzerland, “EqualVoice-Factor Video-Score by EqualVoice@Ringier”
• Honourable Mention: Grupo RPP, Peru, “Podcast Lima 8.8: Alerta sismo (Lima 8.8: Earthquake Alert)”
• Honourable Mention: Irish Independent, Ireland, “The Indo Daily: Trade On a Future Promise, Not a Legacy Product” 

Category 7: Best Use of Print

Regional brands

• First Place: NZME, New Zealand, “Cyclone Gabrielle: Special Free Edition”
• Second Place: The Times of India, India, “Roads So Annoying!”
• Third Place: Navabharat Media, India, “Hum Sakshi Hain (We Are Witnesses)”
• Honourable Mention: The Dallas Morning News and Medium Giant, United States, “Texas Rangers World Series Run”
• Honourable Mention: Stuff Group, New Zealand, “The Post Rebrand”

National brands

• First Place: The Times of India, India, “Unplastic India”
• Second Place: Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland, “Gazette for Refugees”
• Third Place: Jutarnji list, Croatia, “Next Business Magazine Croatia-Slovenia”
• Honourable Mention: Dagbladet, Norway, “Dagbladet Magasinet Special Edition on Bullying”
• Honourable Mention: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Code Red”

Category 8: Best Use of Social Media

Regional brands

• First Place: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times, Australia, “Nine Metros’ Women’s World Cup Coverage on Social Media”
• Second Place: The Times of India, India, “Roads So Annoying!”
• Third Place: Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun, Canada, “Olympic Rewind”
• Honourable Mention: Newsday, United States, “How Newsday’s Social Media Team Changed Their Strategy and Increased Video Views By 56%”
• Honourable Mention: Zero Hora, Brazil, “The Historic Floods of 2023 in Southern Brazil”

National brands

• First Place: Wyborcza.pl, Poland, “30 PiS Scandals: A Series of Daily Short Videos Published Before the Parliamentary Elections in Poland in 2023, Recalling Journalistic Investigations and Abuses of Power
• Second Place: The Daily Prothom Alo, Bangladesh, “Meril Prothom Alo Awards Explode on TikTok, Setting New Engagement Records”
• Third Place: El Comercio, Peru, “No More Child Abuse. Because Growing Up Without Fear is a Right”
• Honourable Mention: Expressen, Sweden, “Expressen on TikTok”
• Honourable Mention: VG, Norway, “VG’s Use of TikTok as a Source for Evolving Our Entire Video Product”

Category 9: Best New Digital Product

Regional brands

• First Place: Bergens Tidende, Norway, “Everyone Talks About the Weather: How Bergens Tidende’s Groundbreaking New Service Gave People Even More to Discuss”
• Second Place: KStA Digitale Medien, Germany, “KStA Click & Read”
• Third Place: Russmedia, Austria, “Story Premium Format”
• Honourable Mention: Mediahuis Noord, Netherlands, “Stories App”
• Honourable Mention: The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Discover Tab”

National brands

• First Place: Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden, “SvD Kompakt”
• Second Place: Alma Media, Finland, “IL Palat”
• Third Place: CNN Business Arabic, United Arab Emirates, “CNN Business Arabic App”
• Honourable Mention: The Logic, Canada, “The Logic Mobile App”
• Honourable Mention: Post, United States, “Post”

Category 10: Best Product Iteration

Regional brands

• First Place: The Dallas Morning News, United States, “News Alert E-mail Strategy”
• Second Place: Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad, Norway, “How We Tripled the Amount of Users on Our Reward Programs”
• Third Place: NTM, Sweden, “Project Improved News Density”
• Honourable Mention: Ippen Digital, Germany, “Driving Loyalization and Engagement for Local News on a Unified App Platform”
• Honourable Mention: Mediahuis Noord, Netherlands, “Stories App”

National brands

• First Place: Hindustan Media, India, “OTTplay Product Iteration”
• Second Place: WeltN24, Germany, “Revitalizing the Welt Community”
• Third Place: La Tercera, Chile, “The Match Project”
• Honourable Mention: IOL, South Africa, “IOL Newsletters”
• Honourable Mention: Der Spiegel, Germany, “Let’s Debate: How Der Spiegel Created a New Space for User Participation ”

Category 11: Best Initiative to Grow Subscriptions

Regional brands

• First Place: Hearst Newspapers, United States, “Article Gifting Pays It Forward for Hearst Newspapers”
• Second Place: Advance Local, United States, “Journalism: Our Core Product and the Cornerstone of Selling Subscriptions”
• Third Place: KstA Digitale Medien, Germany, “KStA Click & Read”
• Honourable Mention: Le Devoir, Canada, “Le Devoir Acquisition Strategy: How to Increase Your Digital Subscription Base by 13% in Six Months”
• Honourable Mention: Malayala Manorama, India, “Read and Win”

National brands

• First Place: United Daily News Group, Taiwan, “Cracking the Code: How Our Homegrown Data-Driven Curation Program Reshaped Subscription Growth”
• Second Place: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, “How F.A.Z. Acquired More Young Subscribers”
• Third Place: Omni, Sweden, “Omni Mer: The Boost”
• Honourable Mention: Bonnier News, Sweden, “The Launch of +Allt”
• Honourable Mention: Daily Maverick, South Africa, “Maverick Insider Marketing”

Category 12: Best Subscription or Registration Experience

Regional brands

• First Place: Zero Hora, Brazil, “ZH Birthday Covers”
• Second Place: Sydney Morning Herald & The Age, Australia, “Which (Introductory) Price is Right?”
• Third Place: The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Mobile-First Digital Subscription Checkout Flow”
• Honourable Mention: Hearst Newspapers, United States: “Article Gifting Pays It Forward for Hearst Newspapers”

National brands

• First Place: Blick, Switzerland, “The Cliffhanger Effect: How Blick’s Paywall Strategy Drives Digital Subscription Growth”
• Second Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Joining the Data Dots”
• Third Place: Business Insider, United States, “Mobile ‘One Click’ Paywall”
• Honourable Mention: Público, Portugal, “Increasing Registrations with a New Datawall Strategy”
• Honourable Mention: The Straits Times, Singapore, “Experience myST: Giving What Matters Most to Readers”

Category 13: Best New Subscriber Onboarding Experience

Regional brands

• First Place: Stampen, Sweden, “Digi-What? From What is Digital to I Am Digital”
• Second Place: Newsday, United States, “Newsday Subscriber Onboarding Journey”

National brands

• First Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Joining the Data Dots”
• Second Place: Aftenposten, Norway, “How Aftenposten Created an Engaging and Customer-Centric Onboarding Experience Across Product and 1:1 Channels with Promising Results”
• Third Place: The Wall Street Journal, United States, “Maximizing The Moment of Purchase for New Subscriber Onboarding”
• Honourable Mention: Handelsblatt, Germany, “Now Read This! The New Web Onboarding Journey @ Handelsblatt & WirtschaftsWoche”
• Honourable Mention: The Hindu, India, “The Hindu Digital’s Free Trial Gamification Onboarding Journey ”

Category 14: Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales

Regional brands

• First Place: VK Media, Sweden, “How VK Media Used Predictive Analysis to Increase Ad Revenue and Digital Subscriptions from Articles Gone Viral”
• Second Place: Nordwest Zeitung, Germany, “Using GeoIntelligence: Boosting the Sales”
• Third Place: The Dallas Morning News, United States, “Digital Replica Revenue Growth to Future Proof Local Journalism”
• Honourable Mention: ABP, India, “Cadbury Gaane Mishti Folk Fusion”
• Honourable Mention: Russmedia, Austria, “Story Premium Format”

National brands

• First Place: Bonnier News, Sweden, “Expressen Story”
• Second Place: Jagran Prakashan, India, “Be a Part of the Story”
• Third Place: News UK, Reach, Guardian Media & Telegraph Media, United Kingdom, “Ozone Smart Bidstream: Powering Premium Publisher Programmatic”
• Honourable Mention: The Daily Prothom Alo, Bangladesh, “University Admission Festival”
• Honourable Mention: NZME, New Zealand, “Imprint”

Category 15: Most Creative Use of Advertising Formats

Regional brands

• First Place: Newsday, United States, “Let’s Go! Brand360 Shared Sponsorship Program”
• Second Place: Russmedia, Austria, “Story Premium Format”
• Third Place: The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States, “Restoring Hope”
• Honourable Mention: Rede Gazeta, Brazil, “U.Break”
• Honourable Mention: Russmedia, Austria, “Online Brochure Super Push”

National brands

• First Place: El Comercio, Peru, “Todos Somos Santa”
• Second Place: Bloomberg, United States, “Context Changes Everything: Bloomberg Media Most Creative Use of Advertising Formats”
• Third Place: Fortune Media, United States, “Salesforce and Fortune Brand Studio Present The Ecopreneurs”
• Honourable Mention: The Irish Times and The Irish Examiner, Ireland, “Dulux Heritage in Partnership with The Irish Times Group”
• Honourable Mention: Stuff, New Zealand, “Triton Hearing + Stuff”

Category 16: Best Commerce Product or Service

Regional brands

• First Place: Amedia, Norway, “How the Publisher Ecosystem Can Fuel Advertising Funnels Generating Business Growth for E-commerce and News Media”
• Second Place: Russmedia, Austria, “Online Brochure ‘Super Push’”

National brands

• First Place: Exame, Brazil, “Adding to Exame’s Brand Value Proposition with the Creation of a New Revenue Stream Through E-commerce Products”
• Second Place: VG, Norway, “How VG Solves Consumer Needs and Funds Journalism by Leveraging a Shopping Frenzy”
• Third Place: The Daily Prothom Alo, Bangladesh, “Prothom Alo’s TV Mela: Revolutionizing Bangladeshi Retail with Content-Driven Commerce”
• Honourable Mention: Media24, South Africa, “Paygates”
• Honourable Mention: Mediahuis, Ireland, “YourAdNow | Advertising Made Easy”

Category 17: Best Use of AI for Internal Productivity

Regional brands

• First Place: Russmedia, Austria, “Russmedia Meets AI”
• Second Place: Hearst Newspapers, United States, “Producer-P: Hearst’s AI-Powered Audience Optimization Tool”
• Third Place: OVB Media, Germany, “Improving Newsroom Efficiency with AI-Enhanced Print Production”
• Honourable Mention: Ippen Digital, Germany, “Editing Tool: A Deep Dive Into Our Editor-Centric AI Product Development”
• Honourable Mention: iTromsø, Norway, “Djinn — Data Journalism Interface for Newsgathering and Notifications”

National brands

• First Place: Ekstra Bladet, Denmark, “Magna”
• Second Place: Aftonbladet, Sweden, “Aftonbladet’s AI Hub”
• Third Place: Omni, Sweden, “The AI Transformation at Omni: This Is Why We Let Our Journalists (And Not Our Devs) Build Our AI Tools”
• Honourable Mention: Blick, Switzerland, “AI-Powered Audio and Video Transcriptions”
• Honourable Mention: Mediacorp, Singapore, “AI SmartCut”

Category 18: Best Use of AI in Customer-Facing Products

Regional brands

• First Place: Nordwest-Zeitung and Weser-Kurier, Germany, “How Can I Help You? How Our AI Voicebot Solves Complaints and Strengthens Customer Loyalty”
• Second Place: The Times of India, India, “I Am Kolkata”
• Third Place: Nine, Australia, “Nine Metros Offside Rule AI Project”
• Honourable Mention: KStA Digitale Medien, Germany, “Going All In: AI Driven, Fully Automated and Personalized Frontpage Experience”
• Honourable Mention: Rede Gazeta, Brazil, “ConfIA — Anuário”

National brands

• First Place: India Today, India, “Human Collaborative AI Anchors: AI-Led Newsroom Transformation”
• Second Place: Ekstra Bladet, Denmark, “Magna”
• Third Place: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, “F.A.Z. Essentials Our First Feature”
• Honourable Mention: BusinessDesk, New Zealand, “Faster, Better, More: AI-Powered Markets Coverage”
• Honourable Mention: Clarín, Argentina, “UalterAI, Clarín’s New Artificial Intelligence Reading Assistant”

Category 19: Best Innovation in Newsroom Transformation

Regional brands

• First Place: OVB Media, Germany, “Two Newsrooms, One Team”
• Second Place: VK Media & Västerbottens-Kuriren, Sweden, “How VK Media Used Predictive Analysis to Increase Ad Revenue and Digital Subscriptions from Articles Gone Viral”
• Third Place: Bergens Tidende, Norway, “Breaking Good: How Bergens Tidende Transformed its Breaking News Machinery”
• Honourable Mention: Funke, Germany, “Shaping the Future of Funke’s Regional Media by Transforming Our Newsrooms”
• Honourable Mention: Hearst Newspapers, United States, “The DevHub’s Click-2-Publish Program”

National brands

• First Place: Stuff, New Zealand, “Consciously Uncoupling”
• Second Place: Irish Independent, Ireland, “Project Leap: Local News on a National Scale”
• Third Place: Alma Media, Finland, “IL Palat”
• Honourable Mention: Infoglobo, Brazil, “Valor Growth Desk”
• Honourable Mention: The Times and The Sunday Times, United Kingdom, “The Times and The Sunday Times Newsroom Transformation”

Category 20: Best Use of Visual Journalism and Storytelling Tools

Regional brands

• First Place: Bladet Nordlys, Norway, “The Avalanche (Skredet)”
• Second Place: Bergens Tidende, Norway, “Three Shots in Ibsens Gate”
• Third Place: InfoAmazonia, Brazil; La Liga Contra el Silencio, Colombia; and Armando.Info, Venezuela, “Amazon Underworld”
• Honourable Mention: Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, “The Gun Mania and Us: European Weapons, American Victims”
• Honourable Mention: Vocento, Spain, “Nobody Knows What It’s Like to Live on the Street: They Do and They Tell You About It”

National brands

• First Place: The Economist, United Kingdom, “Inside A Month of America’s School Shootings”
• Second Place: The Straits Times, Singapore, “Shanti Pereira: How Singapore’s Finest Sprinter Found Her Speed”
• Third Place: Outriders/Wirtualna Polska, Poland, “Kramatorsk: The City Where the Front is Approaching”
• Honourable Mention: Quint Digital, India, “Generative AI Images Are Deceiving Everyone. We Made a Cheatsheet To Debunk Them”
• Honourable Mention: South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, “The Israel-Gaza War Explained”

Congratulations to all the winners!

The next Global Media Awards competition deadline is Friday, January 24, 2025.

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