Appealing to a young audience was a recurring theme as WAN-Ifra's India conference and expo opened today, so acknowledging a top Young Reader publisher made a fitting start.
The event in Mumbai - for which 1400 delegates are registered - saw the 2015 World Young Reader News Publisher award presented to Indonesia's Kompas Daily.
Past president of WAN-IFRA and executive editor of Malayala Manorama Jacob Mathew said the newspaper "has had a major role in creating new citizens capable of sustaining their own freedom of expression and peaceful change of government, two basic elements for any democracy.
"They are also at the forefront of connecting to the young audience via social media with actions that serve the public, create some fun and teach about journalism," he added.
WAN-Ifra's executive director for youth engagement and news literacy Aralynn McMane said Kompas was a company which "knows about youth" and had done everything to foster and engage a young audience.
Projects included:
-TamboraChallenge in which students submit nature pictures over Instagram bidding to become part of a live report team on a mountain hike, for which 2002 posts were received;
-an environmental conservation programme called Mangrovetasi, which drew 264 entries;
-a Manganers programme, for which 331 students joined the newspaper as interns;
-an Enervation project which pitched high-schools against each other in an energy saving competiton;
-the Cari Inspirasi initiative in which young readers wrote and submitted opinion pieces to the newspaper; and
-a KompasJazz event in which young readers provided news and photo coverage of the Java Jazz Festival.