The 35th edition of The Society for News Design’s (SND) ‘Best of News Design’ competition in New York turned out to a perfect stage for Middle East publication to show their innovative approach to design. Based on a report published in Gulf News Middle East publications achieved outstanding results, with the top winner being Omani publications with 111 awards and the UAE in third spot with 71.
Among the top 10 publications in terms of wins, Gulf News and Times of Oman/Al Shabiba did the region proud. More than 8,600 entries from around the world were analysed at the campus of Syracuse University.
The competition also selected the world’s best-designed newspapers and publications that have a strong voice around the globe. The winners were Dagens Nyheter (Sweden): Die Zeit (Germany); The Grid (Canada); The Guardian (UK) and Welt am Sonntag (Germany).
For the first time, judges voted unanimously for the National Geographic’s joint print-digital entry as the ‘best in show’. The quality of storytelling on print is impeccable and matched by great photo editing and detailed maps, but at the same time they can produce an app for tablet and mobile with the same quality.
“This industry is struggling a lot right now with what we look like online and what we look like in print,” said a joint statement issued by the judges.
SND president David Kordalski said that some of the more interesting and innovative work is coming from mid-size or small papers.
“The stuff our team is awarding kicks things up to a much higher notch.”
