Hosted in partnership with PubMatic, the AOP’s flagship event at Old Billingsgate in London honoured individuals, publishers, advertisers, agencies, and suppliers across 24 categories. Now in its 17th year, the 2019 ceremony saw the Best Digital Consumer Publishing Company awarded to Telegraph Media Group, while InfoPro Digital won Best Digital B2B Publishing Company.
On the night, Aaron Walawalker at Ilford Recorder won The Local Hero Award for Regional Digital Journalism award, a new category for this year, which reflects on the increasing importance of local journalism. Aaron was awarded the accolade for his local crowdfunding campaign called Redbridge Together to improve the London Borough of Redbridge’s rough sleeping crisis, which demonstrated the power of local journalism to bring stories to the attention of his readers. By humanising the story; Aaron created a campaign that went national and raised £21,123 for charity.
Also new for 2019, the Digital Publishing Award for Employer Excellence was presented to Raconteur. The initiatives presented to the judges showed how the culture of the company has changed through the implementation of programmes to improve employee wellbeing. As well as creating a motivated workforce, Raconteur saw its profit figures improve, demonstrating an overall impact on the business by investing in its people.
“The awards are a fantastic chance to celebrate and honour the exceptional talent that prevails across our industry”, commented Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP. “This year’s event was no exception – each and every finalist impressed during the judging process in another challenging year for publishing.
“We are especially pleased to recognise the value of local journalism and employer excellence through our two new awards. The importance of investigative content to society and its communities cannot be underestimated, as local journalism continues to tackle and fight for the big issues. It is also extremely encouraging to see employee wellbeing at the forefront for so many businesses, with diversity, inclusion, and nurturing talent all key priorities for the industry today. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and thank you for all those who celebrated with us, including all our sponsors.”
The full list of winners is as follows:
Editorial Excellence
DIGITAL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Amy Hunt, WomanAndHome.com, TI Media UK
DIGITAL EDITOR OF THE YEAR
Emma-Louise Pritchard, Country Living, Hearst Magazines UK
THE LOCAL HERO AWARD FOR REGIONAL DIGITAL JOURNALISM
Supported by Google News Initiative
Aaron Walawalker, Ilford Recorder, Archant Community Media
DIGITAL EDITORIAL TEAM OF THE YEAR: B2B
Sponsored by UKOM
Architects’ Journal, EMAP
DIGITAL EDITORIAL TEAM OF THE YEAR: CONSUMER
Beano Digital Network, Beano Studios
BEST USE OF VIDEO OR AUDIO
On a Knife Edge, Vice
Partnerships Excellence
BEST CREATIVE SOLUTIONS LED / CONTENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN
The ESPN Luck Index powered by Intel + ESPN, tpf
BEST COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIP
Sponsored by Lewis Silkin
VICE Film School
BEST MEDIA TECHNOLOGY PARTNER
Revealing The Hidden Web To Deliver Actionable Insights, Permutive
Commercial Excellence
DIGITAL ADVERTISING OPERATIONS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Xandr
The Bridge Digital Operations Team: Re-Imagining Digital Operations, News UK
DIGITAL SALES PERSON OF THE YEAR
Dan Linton, Chemist+Druggist, Informa
DIGITAL SALES TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Bridge Digital Sales & Strategic Development Team, News UK
Publishing Excellence
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Sun, News UK
BEST DIGITAL PUBLISHING INNOVATION
Sponsored by Deloitte
Decanter, Premium, TI Media UK
BEST RESEARCH / INSIGHT PROJECT
Sun Savers Segmentation, News UK Insights Team
BEST USE OF DATA
Sponsored by 1plusX
Beano Studios
DIGITAL PUBLISHING RISING STAR 2019
Amrit Baidwan, Dennis Publishing
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAM OF THE YEAR
Dennis Digital
THE DIGITAL PUBLISHING AWARD FOR EMPLOYER EXCELLENCE
Sponsored by Project 23
Raconteur
Grand Prix
BEST ONLINE MEDIA PROPERTY OR BRAND
Sponsored by Sloop Media
B2B — Risk.net, Infopro Digital
BEST ONLINE MEDIA PROPERTY OR BRAND: CONSUMER
Sponsored by ADYOULIKE
bbcgoodfood.com, Immediate Media Co
SMALL DIGITAL PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR
Faversham House
BEST DIGITAL B2B PUBLISHING COMPANY 2019
Sponsored by PubMatic
Infopro Digital
BEST DIGITAL CONSUMER PUBLISHING COMPANY 2019
Sponsored by PubMatic
Telegraph Media Group
