Digital Publishing Awards

2022 Winners

Editor of the Year

WINNER: Laurence Mozafari, Digital Spy

Entered by: Hearst UK

The judges were really impressed by the truly outstanding set of results achieved by Laurence in a ferociously competitive market – commercially, results were delivered; journalistically, results were delivered; and all whilst growing the audience and advancing the brand.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Jonathan Stapleton, Professional Pensions

Entered by: Incisive Media

Jonathan demonstrated an almost unerring understanding of his market – both the issues and his audience. The jury were impressed by the bravery behind some of the achievements demonstrated in this entry.

Journalist of the Year

WINNER: WINNER: Karl Flinders, Computer Weekly

Entered by: TechTarget

Karl showed astonishing determination and incredible resilience over 12 years. Not only did he break this story, he also saw it through to the end seeking and achieving justice for a great wrong. His impact was real and important to so many wronged sub-postmasters. He deserves this recognition for his outstanding investigative journalism.

Rising Star

WINNER: Chloe Ash

Entered by: Hello!

Chloe has demonstrated a drive and enthusiasm that has marked her out as being a genuine rising star. She is already an integral part of the Hello! team with a real passion for production outstanding content and for the potential of social media.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Natasa Christofidou

Entered by: Autovia

Natasa’s work ethic and tenacity is revealed in the glowing testimonials that she has received for this nomination. She is clearly committed to delivering for her clients and to being a great team player.

Sales Person of the Year

WINNER: Emily Bird

Entered by: Immediate Media

The judges were hugely impressed by the impact that Emily has had on the business – with no previous experience she is clearly a self-starter, she’s identified the potential revenues, challenged internal stakeholders, and delivered 600% YOY growth.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Matt Slade

Entered by: Outfit7 Group

Matt has been a changemaker for Outfit7 – spearheading the addition of direct sales and developing new sales models enabling his team to diversify it’s ad revenues, delivering significant increases in sales.

The Local Hero Award

Sponsored by:

WINNER: Charles Thomson

Entered by: Archant

Charles showed tenacity, conviction, and a strong desire to make this particular crime story public, creating precedent for other journalists in terms of access to freedom of information. Amplifying the story through the podcast format continues to surface the story for new audiences, with evidence that national media brands are now following up on his investigations.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Rhiannon J Davies

Entered by: Greater Govanhill CIC

The judges loved Rhiannon’s innovative approach to bringing a diverse community with a bad reputation closer together, through a digital publication that challenges stereotypes, tackles big issues, and fosters a sense of belonging.

Advertising Operations Team of the Year

Sponsored by:

WINNER: Telegraph's Campaign Planning And Operations Team

Entered by: Telegraph Media Group

The Telegraph Ad Ops team created a fantastic entry – clear and concise with all the relevant detail. The jury were impressed by the team’s clear vision with great UX at its heart – delivering brand safety and subs-first initiatives which delivered fantastic results across advertising and subscription revenues.

Audience Development Team of the Year

Sponsored by:

WINNER: The Sun

Entered by: News UK

The Sun’s entry provided a story of transformation through thinking differently – the team were able to drive up the quality and value of their online audience, delivering high-yield on-platform audiences and record revenues.

Editorial Team of the Year: B2B

WINNER: Campaign

Entered by: Haymarket Business Media

The jury were impressed by the Campaign team’s pro-active approach to innovating new editorial products that are delivering sustainable growth for the brand – as well as delivering good old-fashioned industry scoops and demonstrating industry leadership with their campaigning journalism.

Editorial Team of the Year: Consumer

WINNER: Women's Health

Entered by: Hearst UK

Our judges were impressed by how committed the team were to their audience – punching above their weight with campaigning journalism that exceeded targets for reach and revenue at a time when the pandemic was leading other women’s titles to encroach in their space.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: PinkNews

Entered by: PinkNews

The passion of the PinkNews editorial team shone through their entry – the jury were impressed by the small team’s achievements, and by their ability to be nimble and apply their strong understanding of their audience to their campaigning journalism.

Product Development Team of the Year

WINNER: Counterparty Radar

Entered by: Infopro Digital

The Counterparty Radar team succeeded in innovating a new data product that is already delivering increased revenues – they demonstrated strong collaboration with editorial and sales teams to ensure the product’s success.

Sales Team of the Year

WINNER: HBM Recruitment Sales Team

Entered by: Haymarket Business Media

The team’s determination to turn around a declining revenue sector paid dividends with happy clients and fantastic results.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Campaign

Entered by: Haymarket Business Media

The judges were impressed by how the team pulled together to deliver some innovative solutions and great results.

Best Creative Solutions Led / Content Marketing Campaign

WINNER: The Big Issue Together With O2: The National Databank Partnership

Entered by: The Big Issue

An innovative partnership highlighting a key social issue to good effect at a time of crisis with real, practical impact.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: VICE Media Group And Levi's Sustainability Partnership

Entered by: VICE Media Group

Created ever-green content with a consistent message and excellent targeting of a hard to reach audience through great matching with Vice’s different audience groups.

Best Digital Publishing Innovation

WINNER: Economist Education

Entered by: The Economist Group

The jury were impressed by how The Economist Education team took a fresh look at a well-established market – leveraging usage of their content in the classroom to deliver a successful new revenue stream with promising year one results.

Best Diversification of Commercial Strategy

Sponsored by:

WINNER: Propolis

Entered by: B2B Marketing

The judges thought this entry’s decision to invest in a totally new business model when their core business disappeared was both brave and bold. The speed of execution based on talking to their customers and learning what they needed produced a completely fresh business model. B2B Marketing was a standout winner.

Best Media Technology Partner

WINNER: How Brand Metrics Is Helping Satisfy Buy-Side’s Relentless Demand For Effectiveness Data

Entered by: Brand Metrics

The jury were impressed by the impact Brand Metrics is having on the wider advertising industry which is favourable to digital publishers. The team at Brand Metrics have expanded their offering to support the industry and provide the neutrality as a partner than enables publishers to increase revenues.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: video intelligence

Entered by: video intelligence

Video Intelligence has reacted well to tech challenges facing publishers, built effective partnership, and enriched publisher content.

Best Publisher-led Social Good Initiative or Campaign

Sponsored by:

WINNER: InYourArea/Reach - Cash for Connectivity

Entered by: Reach

This entry brought so many disparate partners together to achieve a tangible and immediate impact at speed. In Your Area took a problem relevant to their readers and found a solution quickly by taking a lead.

Best Research / Insight Project

Sponsored by:

WINNER: Making Change Happen

Entered by: Independent Digital News & Media

The Independent listened to their readers and other stakeholders to make fundamental changes to their brand. The breadth of research techniques used was comprehensive and the thoroughness of their approach gave impressive results.

Best Use of Audio

WINNER: Making Charity Donations Easier With Alexa

Entered by: Octave Audio and Say it Now

The judges loved the insight that smart speaker users were more likely to donate to charity, a sector that was suffering during the pandemic. The solution was effective and innovative and drove some impressive engagement results to help drive charity donations in a simple way.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: VICE - Unfiltered History Tour

Entered by: VICE Media Group

The jury were impressed by the clever use of AR alongside the podcast series to bring to life the most disputed artefacts housed in The British Museum.

Best Use of Data

WINNER: The Independent's CRM Strategy

Entered by: Independent Digital News and Media

The Independent has set a blueprint for best practice, demonstrating how to get the best out of user engagement, leveraging website and interaction data to deliver a fully automated and segmented CRM that has delivered a dramatic reduction in audience churn and driven improvements in in the subscription proposition.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: News UK: Nucleus Personalisation

Entered by: News UK

The Sun’s data team took on a difficult challenge and developed effective solutions for providing a better user experience which has had a direct impact on revenues.

Best Use of Video

WINNER: PinkNews — The Queer Catch-Up

Entered by: PinkNews

The jury were impressed by how the team at PinkNews overcame logistical challenges to deliver much needed positive coverage of LGBTQ+ issues, with highly creative content showcasing inspiring stories via Snapchat.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Social Video Acceleration

Entered by: Reach

The team accelerated their social video strategy across Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Instagram andTikTok to deliver impressive engagement and revenues.

The AOP Employer Excellence Award

WINNER: Texere Publishing

Entered by: Texere Publishing

For a clear demonstrate that they are investing in their people.

Best Online Brand: B2B

WINNER: Campaign

Entered by: Haymarket Business Media

Campaign’s fantastic commercial results coupled with evidence of great content throughout the year and innovative product development made this the jury’s winner.

Best Online Brand: Consumer

Sponsored by:

WINNER: Homes & Gardens

Entered by: Future

From commercial failure to demonstrating stellar success across readership, commercials and editorial, Homes & Gardens was our winner. They executed a well thought-out, well-rounded strategy taking a consumer first approach with precision and covering all aspects. This was a tough category to judge and Homes & Gardens is a worthy winner.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Independent

Entered by: Independent Digital News and Media

The Independent delivered an impressive commercial success based on a deep understanding of their audience. They developed innovative tools and successfully balanced the demands of driving both subscriptions and advertising revenues.

Small Digital Publisher of the Year