Polish Newspaper Wins World Young Reader Prize

The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza has won the annual World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year award, the World Association of Newspapers announced.

A special “Literacy and Newspapers” prize was also awarded, to the Lexington-Herald Leader in the United States, for a serialized story project designed to teach children about US history and democracy.

Young Reader Newspaper of the Year

The Gazeta Wyborcza, with a circulation of nearly half a million daily, up more than 3 percent last year, has demonstrated a commitment to attracting younger readers in a country where half the population is under 35.

In addition to the top award, the newspaper won Jury Commendations for two projects: 

• a tie-in for young readers with the Euro 2008 football matches,
• and for a campaign that helped readers protest against Chinese policies in Tibet (you can read more about this campaign on forum4editors.com).

“This newspaper clearly engages its young readers on many fronts – from sport to education to human rights – in creative and effective ways that are sure to build loyalty,” the Paris-based WAN said in making the award.

 

Other winners announced are:

• Editorial (Winner) for “Le P’tit 5 minutes” children’s infographic page
  Le Journal de Montréal (Montreal, circulation 250,000 daily)
• Newspapers in Education (Winner) for “News to Use” for young employees
  Rheinische Post (Düsseldorf, circulation 404,744 daily)
• Public Service (Winner) for “National Teachers’ Strike Recovery Initiative”
  Four groups: Independent Newspapers, Media 24, Avusa, AIP (Associated Independent Press), with a combined total daily circulation of more than 1.4 million copies.
• Brand (Winner) for “Green Shoppers Campaign” around eco-friendly, branded bags
  Express & Echo  (Exeter, circulation 22,000 daily)

Commendations and special mention awards

• Editorial category – Five plus one special mention: O Dia (Brazil), Zero Hora (Brazil), 24Sata (Croatia), Ekstra Bladet, (Denmark), plus a special mention for L’Equipe (France)
• Brand category – Two: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (Germany), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)
• Newspapers In Education category – One: Braunschweiger Zeitung (Germany).
• Public Service category – Four: Kakhetis Khma (Georgia), Malayala Manorama (India), Irish Examiner (Ireland) Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)

Details of the winning entries can be found at WAN website.

The annual World Young Reader Prizes, which WAN has awarded since 1998, are supported by the paper manufacturer Norske Skog. The prizes will be presented at the annual WAN Readership Conference, to be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 16 and 17 October.

“The competition is growing in both quantity and quality: Total entries at 79 up from last year) from 35 countries, also up from last year. It’s clear how tough the decision was simply by how many jury commendations were awarded,” Aralynn McMane, director of Young Readership Development at the WAN, told forum4editors.com. “There was a very great deal of creative work this year, and not just by big papers going it alone. One laureat is a 5000 weekly from Georgia and another represented a joint award to four South African newspaper companies,” she added.

WAN announced the Young Reader Prize winners on International Literacy Day (September 8), a United Nations initiative to draw attention to the global problem of illiteracy. WAN contributed to the project by offering a free serialized story, and cartoons from some of the world’s best known cartoonists, for newspapers to run in connection with Literacy Day.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business interests of newspapers world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers.

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