Rupert Murdoch's The Weekend Australian was sporting a brand new strapline to its masthead this morning after being named 2018 News Brand of the Year in last night's rebadged awards.
The 2017 winner also took out Weekend News Brand of the Year in the contest which combines the former PANPA Newspaper of the Year Awards and the NewsMediaWorks' Advertising and Marketing Awards.
News Corp Australia brands topped all the news brand categories with the exception of Daily News Brand, which went to NZME's The New Zealand Herald. News' Northern Territory News (Regional News Brand) and Gympie Times (Community News Brand) won the remainder.
The Fairfax Media team of Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker at The Age won the News Story of the Year award for China's Operation Australia.
Winner of this year's Hegarty Scholarship - which goes to the best young executive under 35 - was Lauren Moloney, who is head of digital business development at News Corp's News Xtend, and Fred Wesley, editor in chief of The Fiji Times was named News Corp Australia News Media Executive Of The Year.
NZME was a standout in the advertising categories, winning four advertising awards and all but one marketing award.
The one remaining printing award in the competition went to Apple Daily Hong Kong (Next Digital) for best run-of-press, while News Corp's Townsville Print Centre was named print centre of the year.
Other awards are below.
Awards were presented at a gala event at the Sydney Hilton following NMW's Inform News Media Summit. More than 400 people were at the awards dinner again hosted by The Chaser's Craig Reucassel and Andrew Hansen.
The seven categories - which also covered advertising, marketing, technical, product innovation, executive excellence and photography - attracted more than 500 entries from publishers in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.
NewsMediaWorks chief executive Peter Miller said the winning entries demonstrated that the region's publishing excellence was world-class: "Our newly rebranded News Media Awards are now in their 49th year and recognised as the region's pre-eminent awards in the news media industry."
He said the new-look cross-platform awards "reflected the changing nature of news brands" to meet the needs of advertisers and readers.
Advertising awards:
Best execution of print advertising for a client, community- Seven Bridges Walk and help beat Cancer, Cancer Council of NSW, North Shore Times (News Corp Australia); regional- The Examiner 175, The Examiner (Fairfax Media); national/metro- Women in Leadership, Westpac, The New Zealand Herald (NZME).
Best execution of digital advertising for a client, community- Keep Your Children Home Day, United Voice, Quest Community News (News Corp Australia); national/metro- Click & Play in the USA, Brand USA (NZME).
Best execution of native advertising for a client (open)- The Survivors Collection, The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation, The New Zealand Herald (NZME).
Best execution of integrated advertising for a client (open)- This is Where, Brand USA (NZME).
Best innovation for an advertising client (open)- Daze Point Travel Research, APT Travel Group, The Australian (News Corp Australia).
Marketing awards
Best trade marketing campaign (open)- Audiences Captured (NZME).
Best consumer brand campaign (open)- Discover More, The New Zealand Herald (NZME).
Best subscriber acquisition campaign (open)- The Creative DM Design Challenge (NZME).
Best community or social-purpose initiative (open)- Do Something! Day 2017, News Community (News Corp Australia).
Product innovation awards
Best use of print (open) - S.O.S - Save Our Schoolkids, The Courier-Mail (News Corp Australia).
Best use of digital (open)- How to spot a rip, theage.com.au (Fairfax Media).
Best use of mobile (open)- The Valley - Stuff Circuit, Stuff.co.nz (Stuff).
Innovation of the year (open)- A Digital Playbook for Every Newsroom, News Regional Media (News Corp Australia).
Photography awards
Portrait, feature or lifestyle photography, community- Community left shattered, Christel Yardley, Stuff.co.nz (Stuff); regional- Animals in aged care, Glenn Daniels, Bendigo Advertiser (Fairfax Media); national/metro- The Last Swagman, Justin McManus, The Sunday Age (Fairfax Media).
Sport photography, community- Cage Fighting, Andrew Ritchie, Community Newspapers, Community News Group; regional #Sweethandz, Jon Gellweiler, South Western Times, (Seven West Media, WAN); national/metro- Hugh Bowman fall from Performer, Daniel Munoz, Australian Associated Press.
News photography, community- Under The Spotlight, Texas Reeks, Mandurah Mail (Fairfax Media); regional- Paddle Out, Georgia Matts, Illawarra Mercury (Fairfax Media); national/metro- Return of Mungo Man, Justin McManus, The Saturday Age (Fairfax Media).
Photographic essay (open)- Battle for Mosul, Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media).
Joining Miller and Charlie Murdoch of NewsMediaWorks on the judging panel were Rosie Baker, Tim Bauer, Grant Booker, Tim Burrowes, Phillip Campbell, Camila Carmody, Miguel D'Souza, Mark Dadswell, Mal Dale, Bruce Davidson, Ed Efchak, Chris Freel, Tony Gillies, Sunita Gloster, Udesh Gunatunga, Brian Hill, Nic Hodges, Ted Horton, Jason Howard, Virginia Hyland, Karyn Krawford, David Krug, Nicole McInnes, Andy Moger, Magdoom Mohamed, Ian Moore, Damien Munday, Rick Neville, Adrianne Nixon, Gerard Noonan, Kellie Northwood, Alan Oakley, Steve Packham, Janine Perrett, Jane Ractliffe (nee Schulz), Eva Rinaldi, David Roles, Jodie Sangster, Mark Sharman, Rick Slowgrove, Julia Spencer, Cheryl Stanion, John Trevorrow, Michael Van Wyk, Linda Wong and Chelsea Wymer.
Pictured: Weekend Australian editor Michelle Gunn (centre) with editor of The Australian John Lehmann and chief executive Nicholas Grey