– Award ceremony goes virtual for the first time in its 18-year history –
London, UK: The Association for Online Publishing (AOP) has announced the shortlist for the 2020 Digital Publishing Awards – a celebration of best practice in innovative, creative and profitable digital publishing.
The awards programme, hosted in partnership with PubMatic – the leading sell-side platform that delivers superior revenue to publishers by being the SSP of choice for agencies and advertisers’– champions talent and excellence across 26 categories. Judged by a panel of industry experts and senior publishing executives, the winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on Thursday 15th October 2020.
Now in its eighteenth year, the awards programme will see the introduction of specific category videos, showcasing the skills, acumen and insight represented by the finalists. The videos will explore what it takes for an editor, advertising operations team, and commercial team to be a finalist, what the organisations leading in publishing innovations have in common, and how the candidates for Digital Publishing Company of the Year (B2B and Consumer) are looking to the future. In the five weeks building up to the online ceremony, the videos will be released with a different category focus each week.
Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP comments: “The Digital Publishing Awards is an opportunity to honour the best in the industry. In these remarkable times, and with more challenges to come, it’s important not to lose sight of the accomplishments over the last year. There is a lot to celebrate and these achievements represent the spirit of innovation and catalyst for change that will help us as an industry to adapt, navigate and overcome the potential maelstrom ahead.
“This is the first year we’re hosting the ceremony online and I look forward to recognising the talent, creativity and flair driving the sector forward.”
The full list of finalists is as follows, and can also be viewed online here.
EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE
Digital Journalist of the Year
- George Driver, ELLE, Hearst UK
- Jane McGuire, Runner’s World, Hearst UK
- Mariana Cerqueira, Women’s Lifestyle, TI Media
Digital Editor of the Year
- Laurence Mozafari, Digital Spy, Hearst UK
- Natasha Bird, ELLE UK, Hearst UK
- Olivia Heath, House Beautiful, Hearst UK
- James Murray, Business Green, Incisive Media
- Kelly Bowerbank, Women’s Lifestyle, TI Media
Digital Editorial Team of the Year: B2B
- edie, Faversham House
- What’s New in Publishing, Sovrn
Digital Editorial Team of the Year: Consumer
- carwow
- Cosmopolitan UK, Hearst UK
- Digital Spy, Hearst UK
- Women’s Lifestyle Digital News Team, TI Media
- VICE UK
Best Use of Video
- carwow
- Campaign, Haymarket Media Group
- Love Island x Mental Health, Hearst UK
- Anywhere But Westminster, The Guardian
- Saving The Planet Through Snapchat, VICE UK
Best Podcast Strategy
- The Week Unwrapped, Dennis Publishing
- Evening Standard Audio, including The Leader Podcast, ESI Media
- Film Stories
- History Extra From BBC History, Immediate Media
- Expenses, The Telegraph
- Sorry, Not Sorry, Verizon Media & MediaCom
PARTNERSHIPS EXCELLENCE
Best Media Technology Partner
- Ozone Project & Beeswax Fight For A Fairer Future For Premium Publishers, Beeswax
- Brand Metrics
- Fenestra: Transparency For Publishers, Fenestra
- Immediate Media Decreased Timeout By 23% With Index Exchange’s Adaptive Timeout Solution, Index Exchange
- Permutive & Financial Times: Excelling In A World Without Third Party Cookies, Permutive
- Collaboration Between Google, Placements.io & Skyscanner, Placements.io
- Trackonomics: Affiliate Technology For Publishers, Trackonomics
Best Commercial Partnership
- Evening Standard’s Future London, ESI Media
- What Car? True MPG & Nissan LEAF, Haymarket Automotive Studio
- The Instant Edit: Mail Metro Media For Matalan, Mail Metro Media
- The Wellness Connection: Mail Metro Media & Entale For Pukka, Mail Metro Media & Entale
Best Creative Solutions Led / Content Marketing Campaign
- Heat’s Under The Duvet With VOXI, Bauer Media
- Evening Standard’s Future London, ESI Media
- The Instant Edit: Mail Metro Media for Matalan, Mail Metro Media
- The Wellness Connection: Mail Metro Media & Entale for Pukka, Mail Metro Media & Entale
COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE
Best Diversification of Commercial Strategy
- Nowse, Dennis Publishing
- Decanter, TI Media
- Marie Claire UK, TI Media
Digital Advertising Operations Team of the Year
- Global Media & Entertainment
- Hearst Global Solutions, Hearst
- News UK
Digital Sales Person of the Year
- Jack Ellis, Haymarket Automotive
- Owen Boyne, News UK
- Nick Biscomb, ViacomCBS
Digital Sales Team of the Year
- Nowse Sales Team, Dennis Publishing
- Haymarket Automotive Studio
- ViacomCBS
PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE
Audience Development Team of the Year
- The Sun, News UK
- The Times & The Sunday Times, News UK
- The Telegraph
Best Digital Publishing Innovation
- DAX Audio Articles, Global Media & Entertainment
- Computing Delta, Incisive Media
- Sun Social Studio, News UK
- A Transformative Economic Model For Academic Publishing, Open Library of Humanities (OLH)
- Permutive & Financial Times: Excelling In A World Without Third Party Cookies, Permutive
- Building The Digital Advertising Environment Of The Future, The Ozone Project
Best Research / Insight Project
- Changing The Sales Narrative By Brand Lift At Scale, JPIMedia
- The Times & The Sunday Times Content Review, News UK
Best Use of Data
- Article Quality Scoring Algorithm, Call Centre Helper (Clearly Presented Ltd)
- Permutive & Financial Times: Excelling In A World Without Third Party Cookies, Permutive
- Readly Insights, Readly
Digital Publishing Rising Star 2020
- Rebecca Knight, TI Media
- Charlie Celino, News UK
- Maddy Tomkins, ViacomCBS
The Digital Publishing Award for Employer Excellence
- Incisive Media
- News UK
Product Development Team of the Year
- What Car?, Haymarket Automotive
- JPIMedia
GRAND PRIX
Best Online Brand: Consumer
- DrivingElectric.com, Dennis Publishing
- Readly
Small Digital Publisher of the Year
- BusinessBecause
- Open Library of Humanities
Best Online Brand: B2B
- ITPro, Dennis Publishing
- edie, Faversham House
- Business Green, Incisive Media
- Computer Reseller News (CRN), Incisive Media
The shortlist for the invite only categories, Digital Publishing Company of the Year B2B and Digital Publishing Company of the Year Consumer will be announced in September.
Tickets to watch the broadcast for the AOP Digital Publishing Awards are available here.
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.
