The best designed newspapers in the world

The annual awards for the world's best designed newspapers have just finished. The top prizes in the Society of News Design's 33rd annual competition went to the Excelsior (Mexico), the National Post and The Grid (both Canada), Politiken (Denmark) and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Germany). There are some innovative pages as always so it's certainly worth a look around the SND site.

Meanwhile, here are a few of my thoughts and observations:

i) The winners are all expansive, graphic, fond of white space, not obsessed with story count ... and there isn't a single advert in sight (honestly, not one).

ii) All are worth a look but the National Post from Toronto (above) really catches the eye - bold and original work here.   

iii) There were 10,131 entries from 39 countries.

iv) The US had the most category winners with 338.

v) It's the fifth year in a row that UK newspapers have failed to really impress. We had eight category winners out of 717, which made us 12th in the countries' league table, but none made it to the last 24 in the top category. The Independent on Sunday was awarded two Awards of Excellence in the breaking news category for its pages on the Japanese Earthquake and the Norwegian massacre, the FT won a clutch of awards for its magazine pages and the Sunday Herald in Glasgow also picked up an Award of Excellence.

vi) The last UK newspaper to be named as one of the world's best was The Guardian in 2007. Previous UK newspapers named in the category include The Guardian (2005, 2007), Independent on Sunday (2001, 2002, 2003), the Glasgow Herald (2003), The European (1997), The Scotsman (1994, 1996, 1997) and The Daily Telegraph (1994, 1995).

vii) Arab newspaper design has made great strides this year with Oman (49) and UAE (35) coming in as the third and fourth countries behind America and Canada. I worked with some young journalist at the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan last year and the increasing importance they put on design is evident. Mario Garcia takes a particular look at the pages from the Times of Oman here and there is a neat slide show here.

 

viii) Garcia also highlights the excellent infographics of Simon Scarr of the South China Morning Post which received nine awards.

xi) Finally, I was surprised, when looking through the SND site to find an American judge leading the discussion on the Washington Post's business page which won a Gold Medal in the business page design category. Here is the video.

What had me perplexed was the fact is he is wearing a Newcastle United shirt from the 2006-2007 season. A bit of digging and I found out he is Steve Cavendish @scavendish, editor of the City Paper in Nashville and a committed Newcastle United fanatic. We made contact on Twitter and he says he was captivated by "the Entertainers" in the Keegan years and has been a fan ever since. Steve joins an illustrious band of Toon Army hacks including myself, David Bourn, Paul Robertson, Chris Rushton, Tim Williams, Richard Bowyer, Laurie Allsopp, Neil Hacking, Ged Clarke, Mark Duell ... but so far he is the only international one I have heard of. If you know of any others, please let me know.

Footnote: Astonishingly, since I originally wrote this, South China Morning Post graphic artist Simon Scarr has been in touch (see comment below) to say he too is a Newcastle supporter. Any more?

The challenge: Quality content at reduced costs

"There are two things guaranteed in regional newspapers in 2012. Editorial costs will decline further and readers will be increasingly bombarded by content from all directions. If regional papers offer dull filler material, they will continue to alienate readers and the downward spiral will go on. Ultimately, if nothing changes, everything stays the same. And for regional newspapers, that will mean their demise edges ever closer."

This is the thrust of my latest article for InPublishing magazine. Should you be minded, you can read the whole thing here. 

A ripping yarn ...

Just been sent this story from the Napier Mail in New Zealand by my old pal David Barrie. I have been banging on recently about the lack of humour and fun in regional papers ... so he sent this to say the Kiwi papers didn't have the same problem. It certainly made me smile. One of those rare tales where you really do read until the end? Schoolkids' essays and speeches - could be a rich source of content. 

If typography was a sport ...

Never mind the Olympics, why not enter the 2012 Typography Games? This Olympic style contest for designers looks like a challenge more suited to most of the people I know. You have to design a typographical poster about sport using the phrase 'it's not what you win but how you conquer it'. Even if you don't fancy taking part, the launch video is definitely worth watching.  

Over to you Paul ... enjoy it as much as I did

The team from The Irish News, winners of Newspaper of the Year, with host Nick Ferrari at last year's awards

Start putting together your best work from last year - the Regional Press Awards are back. The awards lunch will be on Friday May 25th at Savoy Place in London, so make sure you keep the date clear. It is with some regret, though, that I am standing down as chairman of the judges this year. My decision is partly because I don't have the time but mainly because I have taken a non-executive director's role with Northcliffe Media, so can no longer strictly be regarded as an independent. The job will be in safe hands with former Manchester Evening News editor Paul Horrocks taking over. Good luck to him. It was a real honour to have been chairman for the last six years. I have seen the awards run by the Press Gazette, the Wilmington Group, killed off for a year, and then resurrected by the Society of Editors last year. But through all the changes, the constant has been the high standard of journalism. Despite the economic ravages and the cuts, and against a backdrop of some elements of the Press being vilified, there are still regional journalists going the extra yard, delivering great stories, campaigns and investigations that really do change communities. My view has always been that the industry should throw its weight behind these awards. If we don't celebrate the excellence that runs through our newspapers, who will? That is why I took the chairman's role in the first place and why I will continue to help Paul, Bob Satchwell and the Society as they strive to make the awards a success. I hope the industry supports them too by encouraging its editors and journalists to enter. The entries will open on February 13 and details will be posted soon on www.theregionalpressawards.org.uk.
I will still be around on the day to catch up with old friends and colleagues, buy drinks and save tipsy editors from walking in front of cars - but this year I won't have to field the polite and not-so-polite bar-room questioning over 'why didn't we win.' Over to you Paul.

The Hull Daily Mail table celebrates winning daily Newspaper of the Year (over 25,000) at the 2008 awards

Daily Mail looking for subs and reporters

The Daily Mail is once again looking for trainee subs and reporters. The paper begins its search this week for bright wannabe journalists to join its highly successful training scheme, run by Press Association Training. The subbing course has been running since 2003 and the reporting course is in its fifth year. The Mail's newsroom is now staffed by many of those who completed the training including deputy sports editor Mark Alford, sports journalists Alex Kay and Laura Williamson, backbenchers Jayme Bryla and Chris Roberts and current Young Journalist of the Year, the Mail on Sunday's Matt Sandy.
If you are interested in applying send your CV, 200-words on why you want to be a Mail journalist and six pieces of your work to sue.ryan@dailymail.co.uk by February 10. You should specify your preference, if you have one, for the subbing or reporting course. They are separate schemes which will start next September. The reporting course will be held in London and the subbing course will be held mainly at the PA's Manor in Howden, East Yorkshire. For the first time there will be one combined week with subs and reporters getting together at Derry Street. It is likely that the successful applicants will have completed a post-graduate journalism course or have newsroom experience. Shorthand and a driving licence will be an advantage for the reporters. If you are applying it is worth reading my piece on what the Mail is looking for here. If you get invited for interview, I look forward to seeing you in February. Good luck. 

It's all going pear-shaped ...

We have had the dog that injured its nose, the woman who couldn't find a tin of custard and one of my favourites ... the straight banana drama. Now I am grateful to Daily Telegraph sub and fellow Newcastle United supporter @laurieallsopp for alerting me to, wait for it, the man who stumbled on a rather large pear in Sutton from the Sutton Guardian. Don't you just love the use of the word 'rather'. 
BBC journalist @JonMWelch, who flagged up the story of the Diss Christmas tree falling over in the wind, asks if editors are publishing this type of story for 'ironic website hits'. It's certainly a possibility. The dog that injured its nose led to 130,000 people logging on to the story on the Salisbury Journal website in a single day. Indeed the editor wondered whether the tale broke the record for page impressions per word anywhere on the web. As I said at the time, in this upside down world where hits on the website and driving digital audiences are critical, there is perhaps method in the Journal's madness. It will be the bizarre, the offbeat, the mistakes, the funnies and the downright bad that will get the biggest followings. If nothing else such stories add much-needed humour to regional papers. They have also led to the publication of the book Whitstable Mum in Custard Shortage. One for the Christmas stocking ...    

Well done Newcastle ... officially the best

I raised a glass with colleagues at Press Association Training this week after the Newcastle journalism foundation course was named the best in Britain. The training centre, based in the Journal and Chronicle offices, was awarded the top spot ahead at the NCTJ's annual Skills Conference at Belfast City Hall. Trainee journalists on the PA course achieved an impressive and unprecedented 92pc exam pass rate. It's the third time in four years the course has clinched a top place, but the first time it has achieved the overall number one spot. None of this comes as any great surprise to me. The course has always been first rate, mainly because it sticks to the following tried and tested principles:
i) The centre is run as a newsroom with the same disciplines, dress code and long hours.
ii) All of the journalism training is carried out by professional, working journalists.
iii) The course concentrates on the basics - shorthand, writing, bringing in stories and law.
iv) The trainees are given detailed feedback on all of their work. 
v) As the centre is in a newspaper office the trainees get experience working for big city dailies.

Former trainees include the Andrew Marr, James Naughtie, Financial Times editor Lionel Barber and The Sun's political editor Tom Newton Dunn.
Ultimately, of course, training is only as good as the people who deliver it. So well done to Paul Jones, Pat Hagan, Garry Willey, David Banks, Sue Nixon, Shirley Kelly and, of course, head of PA Training Tony Johnston. Richly deserved. If you are want to know more, the course's details are here.