Top award in last night’s PANPA Newspaper of the Year awards went to the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, described as an example of “what successful newspapers represent –informed and comprehensive journalism that connected with its community through its marketing, community affairs and technology. Judges said the newspaper “proved that it can compete and grow advertising revenue and will compete for the future with a forward looking strategic plan”. In the needle-match between cities, this was the first time victory for a Sydney-based newspaper in this 90,000+ circulation category in four years. Recently it has alternated between Melbourne’s ‘The Age’ and the ‘Herald Sun’. In the 25,000-90,000 group, there was a second successive victory for the ‘Geelong Advertiser’, while the under 25,000 prize went to APN’s northern NSW ‘Daily Examiner’. Sunday Newspaper of the Year went to the ‘Sunday Age’ in a highly competitive segment. The online contest was equally competitive, with News Limited’s news.com.au taking News Site of the Year, and its new The Punch named top specialist website. Leader Newspapers (Melbourne) the regional/rural/suburban website category. A record 369 entries were made for this year’s PANPA Newspaper of the Year awards, in which newspapers from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan took part. They were judged by 34 industry and marketing and advertising professionals in six countries. Says PANPA chief executive Mark Hollands: “The awards continue to demonstrate the high quality of professionalism and skill that create newspapers every day of the week and reach millions of readers. “After a very difficult year for newspapers across the Asia-Pacific, there is a sense of renewal, direction and energy. “The amount of investment and editorial improvements being made to newspapers around the region demonstrates a determination to ensure the industry is well-positioned for the economic upswing, and that we continue to deliver better journalism to readers – and a more powerful audience to advertisers – in a highly competitive and fragmented market.” Two Taiwan newspapers and another from Hong Kong vied with those from Australia in this year’s technical awards. ‘Apple Daily’ Taiwan took out the top prize for single-width production over 90,000 copies, while newcomer ‘Sharp Daily’ was honoured for a preprint or supplement in the 25,001-90,000 category. And another regular winner, Hong Kong’s ‘South China Morning Post’ was back for the over-90,000 copies double-width prize. Among Australian winners, all the prizes went to newspaper printed on new or recently-upgraded presses … APN’s Toowoomba and Yandina sites, which have new Manugraph and manroland presses, West Australian Newspapers with its new KBA lines, and the recently-upgraded Fairfax Regional Newspapers, Rural Press Canberra, and Shepparton Newspapers. Full results Newspaper of the Year Dailies (by circulation) Up to 25,000 The Daily Examiner 25,001-90,000 Geelong Advertiser Over 90,000 The Sydney Morning Herald Non-dailies Up to 25,000 Busselton Dunsborough Times 25,001-90,000 Wentworth Courier Over 90,000 Melbourne’s Child Sunday Newspaper of the Year The Sunday Age News Site of the Year Metropolitan/National news.com.au Rural/Regional/Suburban leadernews.com.au Specialist Sites The Punch Marketing Branding Up to 25,000 The Nelson Mail 25,001-90,000 Geelong Advertiser Over 90,000 The Advertiser Circulation Up to 25,000 Shepparton News 25,001-90,000 The Weekly Times Over 90,000 The Sun-Herald Cause-Related Marketing Up to 25,000 The Advocate 25,001-90,000 The Border Mail Over 90,000 Herald Sun Display Advertising Up to 25,000 The Timaru Herald 25,001-90,000 Blacktown Advocate Over 90,000 The Age Classified Advertising Up to 25,000 The Timaru Herald Over 90,000 The New Zealand Herald Sponsorship Up to 25,000 South Western Times 25,001-90,000 Geelong Advertiser Over 90,000 The Age Events Up to 25,000 Bay of Plenty Times 25,001-90,000 Illawarra Mercury Over 90,000 The West Australian Young Readers Up to 25,000 South Western Times 25,001-90,000 Otago Daily Times Over 90,000 The New Zealand Herald Photograph of the Year News Justin McManus – The Age Sport Steve Christo – The Sydney Morning Herald Features Janie Barrett – The Sun–Herald Lifestyle John Selkirk – The Dominion Post Hegarty Prize (young executive of the year) Nathan Wayne South Western Times/Bunbury Herald Environment, Health and Safety One Degree – Cumberland-Courier Newspapers Innovation in the Pre-Production Process or Technology ASX Plus – APN News and Media Technical Excellence Single-Width Press Up to 25,000 The Chronicle, APN Toowoomba 25,001-90,000 The Herald, Newcastle Over 90,000 Apple Daily, Taiwan Double-Width Press Up to 25,000 Sunshine Coast Daily, APN Yandina 25,001-90,000 The Canberra Times Over 90,000 South China Morning Post Pre-print or Supplement Up to 25,000 Your School – Shepparton News 25,001-90,000 Sharp Daily – Taiwan Over 90,000 Travel Guide – The West Australian