Ifra’s annual checklist of the world’s best cross media publishers was presented on the second day of the Vienna expo, with winners of the fourth XMA Cross Media Awards shown in a special feature area at the show.

The competition – which recognises ‘especially successful’ examples of publishing on multiple channels including print, online, mobile and event categories – focussed this year on cross media design and branding, in cooperation with the Society for News Design.

International newspaper designer Mario García, who was one of the judges, says the entries – from 16 countries, and representing 26 publications – all had one thing in common: “They had taken the well-known and respected brand of their newspaper and extended it beyond the old definitions of everything from news to advertising.

“In doing so, they attracted new audiences and infused their brands with an energy and level of interactivity, such as to date we have only seen in its infancy,” he says.

UK and European newspapers dominated the winners list, with two Axel Springer titles – ‘Die Welt’ and ‘Bild dir deine Werbung’ – taking the top positions in the large newspaper category.

Winners were:

Small publications (circulation below 100,000 copies per day): 1. “Antreprenor” together with “Guvernul Privat” (Catavencu, Romania). 2. “Rock Stars” (Herald Express, United Kingdom). 3. “dBalears” (Hora Nova, Spain).

Medium-sized publications (circulation: 100,000 to 250,000 copies per day): 1. “24sata MMM brand” (24sata, Croatia). 2. “Hessens erste Mitmachzeitung” (GZ Medien, Germany). 3. “Večernji +” (Večernji list, Croatia).

Large publications (circulation: more than 250,000 copies per day): 1. “Die Welt – from the newspaper brand to the media brand” (Axel Springer, Germany). 2. “Bild dir deine Werbung” (Axel Springer, Germany). 3. “Marca” (Unidad Editorial, Spain).

The XMA Cross Media Awards are presented by WAN-IFRA, sponsored by Adobe and supported by Protecmedia. A book of winners can be downloaded from: www.nxtbook.fr/nxtbooks/ifra/2009_xma_winners and all entries to the competition viewed at www.wan-ifra.org/xma

Next year’s competition will focus on mobile and how its applications for the publishing world succeed in a cross-media environment.