The fourth edition of the WAN-IFRA’s South Asian Digital Media Awards saw more than 80 entries from over 20 South Asian media companies, which were evaluated by an international jury comprising of high ranked professionals from the media industry.

Manoramaonline.com wins Best News Website of the Year Award. BBC News, The Wire, NDTV Hop, Arre, Sangbad Pratidin, Prothom Alo and The Hindu are among winners of the Awards 2019.

The South Asian Digital Media Awards presented by WAN-IFRA recognize publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news today.

Winners will be presented trophies at the Digital Media India 2020 conference to be held in Dehli on 18 February.

The “gold” winners in each category of the Award will compete in the World Digital Media Awards that will be presented at World News Media Congress (Zaragoza, Spain, 17-19 June 2020).

Manoramaonline.com, the online news portal of Malayala Manorama, bagged the WAN-IFRA South Asian Digital Media Award for the best news website for the year 2019. The digital version of Kerala based Malayala Manorama newspaper is one of the largest regional language news websites in India. Before this in 2016, Manoramaonline.com had won the award for the best news website at the WAN-IFRA World Digital Media Awards. In the best news website category, the publisher also grabbed the second spot with its ‘Manorama Mobile’ offering.

The award for the ‘Best News Startup’ went to The Wire (English) run by Foundation for Independent Journalism. The Wire also bagged gold in the ‘Best Use of Online Video’ category for its web series Sadak Se Sansad, which covered stories from 55 Lok Sabha constituencies across India.

Two categories — Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand and Best Native Advertising/Branded Content Campaign — saw the Gold Award being shared by two contestants each. Sangbad Pratidin’s Augmented Reality Face Filters during Durga Puja — ‘Pujor Face’ — fetched it the top position for the best marketing campaign. It also won the bronze medal in the same category with its ‘MaaClicks’ campaign.

The Hindu’s #UnderMyWatchcampaign made it the other top scorer in the same category. The Hindu also emerged winner in the Best Paid Content Strategy with its “The Hindu+” program.

In the Best Native Advertising category, Prothom Alo’s “Alor Poth” bagged gold while “Shusthyotar Jonyo” by ABP Pvt Ltd. took it to the top spot.

Winners were selected from 10 categories including Best Data Visualization, Best Digital News Startup, Best Digital Project to Engage Younger/Millennial Audience, Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Website or Mobile Services, Best in Social Media Engagement, Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand, Best Native Advertising/Branded Content Campaign, Best News Website or Mobile Service, Best Paid Content Strategy (incl. membership or crowdfunding models) and Best Use of Online Video.