Two newspapers from southeast Asia are among principal winners in WAN-Ifra’s 2012 Young Reader Newspaper of the Year competition, which was won by India’s I-Next.

‘The Star’ (Malaysia) and the ‘Philippine Daily Inquirer’ (Philippines) shared honours with newspapers from Sweden, Puerto Rico and Poland in the competition won last year by Indonesia’s ‘Jawa Pos’.

Some 21 prizes were awarded to newspapers and a newspaper printing plant from 13 countries which found innovative ways to attract young people to the news.

Individual category winners were :

Brand

TOP AWARD Aftonbladet, Sweden, for creating a digital arena for its rock concerts;

JURY COMMENDATION Die Presse, Austria, for Eduard Education Award to encourage student energy projects.; 

JURY COMMENDATION The Straits Times, Singapore, for reviving and modernizing its spelling contest;

SPECIAL MENTION Hellweger Anzeiger, Germany, for a Mini World Cup for Girls;

SPECIAL MENTION Heilbronner Stimme, Germany, for a rename the mascot campaign. 

Editorial

TOP AWARD The Star, Malaysia, for transforming a print youth supplement into a powerful social media connection tool;

JURY COMMENDATION The Washington Missourian, USA (Missouri), for "One World, Their Story" set of features.

Enduring excellence

TOP AWARD JOINTLY WON BY (1) Polskapresse, Poland, for School Without Violence campaign;

AND (2) Westdeutsche Zeitung, Germany, for Schulpreis, which encourages student community projects;

JURY COMMENDATION (Enduring Excellence - Making the News) Pioneiro, Brazil, for Journalist for A Day;

JURY COMMENDATION (Enduring Excellence – Newspapers in Education) A Tarde, Brazil, for A Tarde Eduçao;

JURY COMMENDATION (Enduring Excellence – Newspapers in Education) Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, Germany, for Zikita pre-school education programme.

Making the news

TOP AWARD El Nuevo Día, USA (Puerto Rico), for its Logon total youth think strategy;

SPECIAL MENTION Die Presse, Austria, for Reporter '11 Trainee Competition;

SPECIAL MENTION Aargauer Zeitung, Switzerland, for Junior Camp;

SPECIAL INSPIRATION CITATION, Northglen News, South Africa, for Generation Y.

See also Enduring Excellence - Making the News.

The Natasa Prize for newspaper printing plants (honours Natasa Vuckovic Lesendric – 1966-2011 – who made sure that the first distribution system and printing for the Serbian independent press that she founded and managed had significant programmes to teach the young about journalism and press freedom)

TOP AWARD RotOcéan, France (Ile de la Reunion) for "La Presse dans les Ecoles" [press in schools]

Newspapers in Education (NIE)

TOP AWARD Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines, for Money Matters for Teens; 

SPECIAL MENTION Südwest-Presse, Germany, for "Wir Lesen" [Let's Read].

See also Enduring Excellence awards for NIE.

Public service

TOP AWARD I-Next, India, for Power of Youth voting campaign;

SPECIAL MENTION  Vorarlberger Nachrichten, Austria, for literacy campaign and projects. 

Executive director of WAN-Ifra young readership development Aralynn McMane says the winners showed that newspapers can successfully appeal to younger audiences in the digital age: “This year’s winners offer a fantastic set of examples for how to capture and captivate this audience at that key point in their lives: when they will or will not become interested in a multiplatform relationship with their newspaper.”

In addition to taking the Young Reader Newspaper of the Year award, India’s I-Next also won the top award in the public service category, for a project that galvanizing youth to get out and vote.

"In short, I-Next did an excellent job,” the prize jury noted. “We found it especially interesting that youth considered corruption the number one topic of concern. The other two projects entered, which contributed to its Newspaper of the Year status, also showed creativity and relevance. The investigative report and campaign about heavy back-packs truly made a difference, and the folk singing contest was a fresh approach to youth entertainment.”

Newspaper plant winner RotOcéan uses digital printing equipment in the island of Reunion.

This year’s competition was supported by newsprint manufacturer Norske Skog.

Awards will be presented and projects discussed on July 10 in Bangkok, Thailand, at WAN-Ifra's first Asia-Pacific Young Reader Summit.  Details and online registration for that event are HERE. Participants will receive full details of prize strategies on a DVD.