The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is pleased to announce the lineup of categories for the third annual Digital Publishing Awards. This year, awards in 24 categories will be bestowed to Canadian digital creators and publishers, along with a $500 cash prize in creator-awarded categories.
“As an independent and charitable organization, the Digital Publishing Awards has established itself as an authoritative and respected champion of excellence in the Canadian digital community. The changes to this year’s categories reflect our commitment to the program’s quality and relevance to all digital creators and publishers.” – Nino Di Cara, President of the NMAF.
To review its Digital Publishing Awards program for 2018, the NMAF worked in consultation with a panel of industry professionals. This year’s Advisory Committee members, who provided invaluable guidance to crafting the 3rd annual Digital Publishing Awards, include:
- Jean-Philippe Cipriani, Director, Digital Content, L’actualité
- Jude Isabella, Editor-in- Chief, Hakai Magazine
- Matt Frehner, Head of Presentation, The Globe and Mail
- Kenny Yum, Chief of Staff, CBC News
The categories for the 2018 DPAs are:
1. Best Digital Editorial Package
2. Best Blog or Column
3. Best News Coverage: Small Newsroom
4. Best News Coverage
5. Best Feature Article: Short
6. Best Feature Article: Long
7. Fiction *NEW
8. Best Personal Essay
9. Best Arts & Culture Story
10. Best Science & Technology Story *NEW
11. Best Service Feature: Lifestyle
12. Best Service Feature: Careers & Personal Finance
13. Best Service Feature: Family & Health
14. Best Online Video: Short
15. Best Online Video: Feature
16. Best Online Video: Mini-Doc
17. Best Podcast and Audio Storytelling
18. Best Digital Design
19. Best Photo Storytelling *NEW
20. Best Social Storytelling
21. Best Digital Initiative
22. Emerging Excellence Award
23. Leadership Excellence Award
24. General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small, Medium and Large Publications
Notable changes for 2018 include:
- The top overall prize—General Excellence in Digital Publishing—will be presented in three divisions, for small, medium and large publications.
- One of the Best News Coverage categories will be exclusively open to small publications.
- The awards for Best Service Feature, rewarding excellence in service journalism, have been revised to include the following three categories:
- Lifestyle;
- Careers and Personal Finances; and
- Family and Health.
- The Best Podcast category has been expanded and renamed Best Podcast and Audio Storytelling to include audio stories.
- Three new categories have been added to the program:
- Fiction;
- Best Science and Technology Story; and
- Best Photo Storytelling.
For a complete list of awards categories, rules and judging procedures, visit digitalpublishingawards.ca.
THE NMAF ELECTS TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS
To help support and grow the DPA program on an on-going basis, the NMAF is pleased to welcome two new digital publishing professionals to its board of directors:
As Head of Presentation at The Globe and Mail, Matt Frehner leads a cross-disciplinary team of editors, designers, developers and graphic artists.
Also joining the NMAF board of directors is Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Social Media Editor at BuzzFeed Canada and Editor, News Curation at BuzzFeed News.
Visit digitalpublishingawards.ca to view the NMAF’s complete list of board members.
2018 CALL FOR ENTRIES
Submissions for the 2018 Digital Publishing Awards will be accepted from January 2 to February 2, 2018. The DPAs are open to all Canadian digital publishers— including those that support established brands in consumer & B2B magazines, newspapers, broadcast and other journalism, as well as those that serve their audiences exclusively as digital brands—published in either English or French.
For news and updates about the DPAs, follow the Digital Publishing Awards on Twitter @DPAwards and #DPA18.