The Times of India has been awarded the World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year prize by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). The prize was given away at a ceremony Monday in Washington, DC.
In addition to taking the top award, the Times of India was also awarded the World Young Reader Prize in the Newspapers in Education category, which honoured its effective use of the newspaper as a teaching tool.
Newspapers from Spain, Panama and the United States were awarded top honours in the other categories. El Correo of Spain won a World Young Reader Prize in the Public Service category for promoting citizen journalism among young readers. La Prensa of Panama won in the Brand category for a circus project that introduced the newspaper to the very young. The Virginian-Pilot in the United States was awarded a World Young Reader Prize in the Editorial category for a strategy that turned a print youth section into a innovative multimedia component for the paper.
WAN awards the World Young Reader Prizes annually to the newspapers that devise the most innovative projects to develop young readership. The awards, supported by the Norwegian paper producer Norske Skog, were presented during the 7th World Young Reader Conference, where the winners will present their projects to nearly 400 publishers, editors and newspapers in education experts from 69 countries.
Special Jury Commendations were awarded to Fairfax Newspapers in New Zealand for Newspapers in Education, Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung in Germany in the Editorial category, the Hindustan Times in India in the Public Service category, and the Straits Times of Singapore in the Brand category.
The Times of India was named World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year for the re-launch of its student edition, which reaches more than 2,000 schools and achieved a 50 percent increase in circulation after the re-launch. The newspaper used extensive market research to determine what students wanted -- and then provided it to them.
WAN remarked: “This is more than a student newspaper. It is an excellent example of how a great project can be extended and enhanced in many interesting ways.’”
Deepti Mehra, TOI’s Director for NIE, said at the conference, “I must admit that success doesn’t come easy, in fact, the only thing that keeps us going is our belief that we needed to create true value for our children.” The student edition uses extensive market research to determine what students want. And they want everything – local and international news, school news, career pages, debates on controversial issues, health and fitness, technology, sports, entertainment and more. “In short, a newspaper that is reflective of the attitudes, mindset and world view of young Indians,” she said.
