The World Young Reader Prizes are part of WAN-IFRA’s efforts to recognize, encourage and disseminate promising new ideas, thinking and actions to help build stronger and vital news media. World Young Reader Prize winning strategies are celebrated and shared as they benefit not only the media companies and their young audiences but also society as a whole, says WAN-IFRA.
"This year's winners show, once again, that engaging with the young people is a smart strategy for news publishers worldwide who want to grow while they also help create a civic-minded, media-savvy new generation" said Vincent Peyrègne, WAN-IFRA CEO.
R.AGE has been named the 2016 World Young Reader News Publisher of the Year for an initiative that began with a video social media explaining the seriousness of cheerleading and eventually became a full-blown video reporting initiative that included an undercover documentary about child sex predators on mobile chat apps and an investigation of a mysterious illness attacking the children of an indigenous tribe that brought government action.
The other top prizes are being awarded in several categories:
Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitung of Germany in the Public Service category for Welcome to Germany: Language Training for Refugees with the Newspaper that uses classic newspapers in education strategies supported by other resources to creatively help three age groups of refugees learn German language and culture.
Polska Press Group of Poland (News in Education category) for #juniorlab, a transformation of its news in education program to offer multimedia lessons in using modern tools to do journalism (with prizes for success).
Het Belang van Limburg of Belgium (Editorial category) for a special focus in its “We solve your problems” feature on young people, opening up new relationships in the process.
Lausitzer Rundschau of Germany (Brand category) for Planbar, a multi-faceted, multimedia and profitable initiative that helps young people about to enter the job market.
Uitgeverij Young & Connected of The Netherlands (Digital First special category). The team of its 7Days media brand that focuses on news for teenagers created a news app relying on cheap or free resources and featuring a creative way to make money.
Winners of other awards are from France, Germany, India, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States. Details about all the winners can be found here.
