London, UK: The Association for Online Publishing has announced that entries are now open for the UK’s leading annual awards event, dedicated to Digital Publishing – The AOP Digital Publishing Awards. Hosted in partnership with PubMatic, the publisher-focused sell-side platform (SSP) for an open digital media future, the awards benchmark and champion excellence in online publishing.
With 22 categories covering editorial, commercial, partnerships, publishing excellence, and grand prix, this year sees two new categories added to ensure the awards recognise true enterprise and innovation within the digital publishing industry. The Rising Star award has been introduced to reward young talent who have made a noticeable contribution to the growth of their business, and the Small Digital Publisher of the Year award has been designed to celebrate specialist and entrepreneurial publishers with a turnover of less than £5million.
Now in their 16th year, the awards are open to all publishers, advertisers, agencies, and suppliers across the industry. The deadline for entries is Thursday 15th March 2018, and the winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London,on Wednesday 27th June 2018.
The awards will be judged by industry experts and senior publishing executives, including: Gill Dawson, Group Head of Digital Performance & Audience at Centaur Media Plc; Paul de la Nougerede, Commercial Product Director at Telegraph Media Group; Shana Hills, Chief Product Officer at Bauer Xcel Media, and Jack Riley, Strategy Director, International at HuffPost. The full list of judges can be found on the AOP website.
Winners from 2017 include The Telegraph (for Best Commercial Partnership); Global (for Best Use of Data); Incisive Media (for Digital Publisher of the Year – Business to Business), and HSJ Solutions (for Best Digital Publishing Launch). A full list of previous winners can be viewed here.
“More than ever, it is important to take time to celebrate those who have evolved in line with industry trends, particularly at a time when we continue collectively to address the many constant and well documented challenges faced by the premium digital publishing community. These awards demonstrate the brilliance, resilience and determination of the creators of original quality to ensure their content, created with unrivalled journalistic excellence, remains available to their respective audiences,” commented Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP. “Every year the AOP and its board members review all award categories to ensure they highlight the talent, skills, and innovation that characterise the digital publishing industry. We’re excited this year to be able to recognise emerging talent and niche premium publishers, and continue to support the future of our industry.”
“We are delighted to continue our support of the Digital Publishing Awards. These awards truly recognise excellence in the digital publishing sector, and as a publisher-focused business we are proud to be an integral partner of theirs,” commented Emma Newman, Country Manager, UK, PubMatic.
Award categories for 2018 include:
Editorial Excellence
- Best Use of Video
- Digital Journalist/Content Producer of the Year
- Digital Editor/Content Strategist of the Year
- Digital Editorial/Content Development Team of the Year: B2B
- Digital Editorial/Content Development Team of the Year: Consumer
Partnerships Excellence
- Best Native Advertising Campaign
- Best Commercial Partner
- Best Creative Solutions Led/Content Marketing Campaign
Commercial Excellence
- Digital Advertising Operations Team of the Year
- Digital Sales Person of the Year
- Digital Sales Team of the Year
Publishing Excellence
- Audience Development Team of the Year
- Best Digital Publishing Launch
- Best Research/Insight Project
- Best Use of Data
- Digital Publishing Rising Star 2018
- Product Development Team of the Year
Grand Prix Awards
- Best Digital B2B Publishing Company 2018
- Best Digital Consumer Publishing Company 2018
- Best Online Media Property of Brand: Consumer
- Best Online Media Property or Brand: B2B
- Small Digital Publisher of the Year
Nominations can be made online and winners will be selected by a cross-industry judging panel. The shortlist for finalists will be announced on 26th April 2018.
For more information visit www.ukaop.org/awards2018.
About the Association for Online Publishing
The Association for Online Publishing (AOP) is an industry body representing digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content. AOP champions the interests of media owners from diverse backgrounds including newspaper and magazine publishing, TV and radio broadcasting, and pure online media. For more information, please visit www.ukaop.org.
