MediaBiz | 19 Nov 2009
The Publishers Australia Excellence Awards – acknowledging the talent, expertise and outstanding achievements over the past 12 months for publications across Australia – were held in Sydney last Friday in front of 500 industry professionals. ‘Magazine of the Year', went to Luna Media's popular science title, COSMOS magazine.
COSMOS, a Luna Media publication was represented by Kylie Ahern (Publisher), Alan Finkel (Executive Publisher), Wilson da Silva (Editor-in-Chief), John Pickrell (Editor), and Jacqui Hayes (Assistant Editor).
The Australian print magazine and digital media publishing industry's awards are now the only Association backed awards event in Australia. Many Publishers Australia members have ABC and CAB audited titles, which further highlights the industry's high regard for accountability, and reinforces the notion that these awards are true indicators of excellence.
Hosted by ABC TV personality, James O'Loghlin, the awards were staged on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour, at the new Doltone House.
In addition to winners across 25 categories, the Board of Directors awarded life memberships to three long-time publishing innovators, Bruce Roff, John Blondin, and Adrian Farrow. Blondin, CEO of Media Titles, was also the recipient of the inaugural Pinnacle Award for "recognition of excellence, integrity and innovation in promoting, marketing and raising the profile of the specialist media publishing sector".
As for COSMOS, the judges were impressed with how the title "displayed a commitment to publishing excellence and innovation...was clever in re-mediating its content outside of the traditional magazine format, embraced innovative ways of marketing itself to its readers, including the use of relevant social media and cause marketing... was able to demonstrate success on metrics including subscriptions, readership audit, and engagement... and was clearly connecting with its readership community."
Luna Media also won the trophy count, picking up 5 Winner trophies and a Highly Commended certificate.
Other major winners were The Intermedia Group's ‘Professional Beauty' for ‘B2B Magazine of the Year' (for the second year in a row); ‘NETT Magazine' from He Said She Said Communications taking out best custom magazine, Best Digital Only Publication went to Sproog Media's ‘The Overclocker'; and Brett Winterford of Haymarket Media's ‘iT News' picked up the highly coveted ‘Editor of the Year' award.
This year's panel of judges was hand-picked in each category for their specialist expertise in addition to their capacity to evaluate submissions to the highest level of professionalism. The judges reported that the level of innovation and overall standard of entries had risen this year and Publishers Australia CEO, Alan Sarkissian believes it points to smarter thinking in the face of challenging circumstances.
"There has been a noticeable increase across the 3 "R's", being relevance, resonance and reader engagement," said Sarkissian. "And the overall level of quality is not only inspiring, but continues to raise the benchmark for the entire industry."
The complete list of awards are:
Magazine of the Year
Winner: Cosmos Magazine, Luna Media.
Board awarded ‘The Pinnacle Award'
Winner: John Blondin - CEO, Media Titles
B2B Magazine of the Year
Winner: Professional Beauty - The Intermedia Group
Runner up: ‘Nett' Magazine - He Said She Said Communications
Highly Commended: Sold Magazine - GASP Media
Consumer Magazine of the Year
Winner: Cosmos Magazine - Luna Media
Runner up: Australian Road Rider's Cruiser & Trike - Universal Magazines
Highly Commended: Selector Magazine - Australian Wine Selectors
Highly Commended: Runner's World Magazine, Australia & New Zealand - Dingoes Refrain
Custom Magazine of the Year
Winner: ‘Nett' Magazine - He Said She Said Communications
Runner up: Mercedes Magazine - Hardie Grant Magazines
Digital-only Publication of the Year
Winner: ‘The Overclocker - Sproog Media
Best Magazine Launch
Winner: The Week - Dennis Publishing
Runner up: Australian Advanced Aesthetics magazine - The Intermedia Group
Best Magazine Relaunch
Winner: Spice Magazine - The Intermedia Group
Runner up: Dogs NSW Magazine - Mahlab Media
Best Small Publisher
Winner: Luna Media
Runner up: T-World
Best annual printed publication
Winner: UDIA 2009 - The Magazine Publishing Company
Runner up: Wellbeing Food - Universal Magazines
Highly Commended: Outdoor Design Source - Universal Magazines
Best Print and Media Integration
Winner: Four Four Two magazine - Haymarket Media
Runner up: ‘Voice&Data Magazine +eMag' - Westwick-Farrow Media
Editor of the Year
Winner: Brett Winterford, ‘iT News' - Haymarket Media
Runner up: Rob Johnson, Editor of ‘Next', ‘Smile', ‘Bite', Broadway', and ‘Restaurant & Catering' magazines - Engage Media
Highly Commended: Lisa Holmes, Runners World magazine Australia & New Zealand - Dingoes Refrain Publishing
Highly Commended: Mark Hughes, Selector Magazine - Australian Wine Selectors
Journalist of the Year
Winner: Zoe Lyon - Lawyers Weekly, LexisNexis Media
Runner up: Trevor Treharne - Four Four Two magazine, Haymarket Media
New Journalist of the Year
Winner: Paul Rodger - The Open Road, NRMA Publishing
Runner up: Jeff Megahan - Club Marine Magazine
Highly Commended: Jacqueline Hayes - Cosmos magazine, Luna Media
Best Analytical Writing
Winner: Luna Media - Cosmos Magazine, Luna Media
Runner up: Harriet Morely - Runners World Magazine Australia & New Zealand, Dingoes Refrain
Best Integrated Media Advertisement or Campaign
Winner: DMAG - SmartyPantz Communications
Runner up: What's New In Process Technology magazine - Westwick-Farrow Media
Best Digital Engagement Strategy
Winner: Cosmos Magazine - Luna Media
Most successful subscriptions campaign
Winner: Australian Road Rider's Cruiser & Trike - Universal Magazines
Runner up: Westwick-Farrow Media magazines
Designer of the Year
Winner: Kelley Sheenan - Peppermint magazine
Best Designer - B2B
Winner: Loni Parker - The Magazine Publishing Company.
Best Designer - Consumer
Winner: Kelley Sheenan - Peppermint magazine.
Best Designer - Custom Media
Winner: Steven Ah Tow, Senior Designer - The Open Road, NRMA Publishing
Best Customer Magazine Cover
Winner: Craig Hodges and Georgina Armour - ‘Private Word' (NAB), Edge Custom Media
Runner up: Stephen Dibden - Australian Classic Car, NRMA Publishing
Highly Commended: Alys Martin - Lawyers Weekly, LexisNexis Media
Highly Commended: Eddie Zammit - T-world
Innovation in Distribution
Highly Commended: Sproog Media
Sustainability in publishing
Winner: Kelley Sheenan - Peppermint magazine.