South China Morning Post graphics team wins 80 awards at competitions in the US, Europe and Hong Kong

Society for News Design announces awards for the ‘World’s Best-Designed Digital News Experience for 2019’ and the ‘World’s Best-Designed Newspaper’
South China Morning Post came in second to The Washington Post in the ‘World’s Best-Designed Digital News Experience for 2019’ and won 31 awards in total

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SCMP Reporter

Published: 7:42pm, 30 Apr 2020

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Amid the tumult of last year’s anti-government protests, the South China Morning Post graphics team won 80 awards at international competitions in the US and Europe, as well as at home in Hong Kong.

The latest accolades came as the Society for News Design announced the awards for the “World’s Best-Designed Digital News Experience for 2019” and the “World’s Best-Designed Newspaper”.

The South China Morning Post came in second to The Washington Post in the “World’s Best-Designed Digital News Experience for 2019” and won 31 awards in total.

The New York Times was named the “World’s Best-Designed Newspaper”, while the South China Morning Post picked up a further 40 awards in the “Best in News Design” category, in which the society recognises the news industry’s achievements in print.

In the digital news contest, the judges remarked: “South China Morning Post proves that a great interactive graphics team can thrive even with a crisis at their doorstep. The team deployed their many skills, from data graphics to explanatory illustrations, to help Hongkongers – and the world – understand and follow events as they unfolded.”

South China Morning Post wins big at Asian Digital Media Awards

Stories about Hong Kong’s protests picked up an overall total of 25 awards of excellence in the society’s digital and print awards, while How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA won a silver medal for “Original Use of Illustration” and two bronzes in the “Sports and Lifestyle” sections. Adding to the tally was Why your smartphone is causing you ‘text neck’ syndrome which won bronzes for “Health and Science” and “Use of Video”. Cantonese performing art won a bronze for “Best Use of Audio”. The Post bagged another bronze for “experimental design” for the product team’s China Tech City.

Particularly gratifying to the graphics team were six awards of excellence in the print and digital combination category:

• From Occupy 2014 to protests 2019, by Adolfo Arranz

• 100 days of protests rock Hong Kong, by Pablo Robles, Dennis Wong and Darren Long

• China’s radical new rules to recycle rubbish, by Han Huang

• Why your smartphone is causing you ‘text neck’ syndrome, by Pablo Robles

• Cantonese Performing Art, by Marcelo Duhalde, Yan Jing Tian and Dennis Wong

• How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA, by Pablo Robles, Dennis Wong, Adolfo Arranz and Mathew Scott

The South China Morning Post won the fourth most medals in the world for the digital competition and eighth for print, prompting senior designer Pablo Robles to compare this year’s achievement with “David and Goliath – the other news organisations all have significantly bigger design departments”.

South China Morning Post wins 18 awards for excellence in graphics

Creative director Darren Long said: “This shows how a small team with a big heart can compete with the world’s best by being unafraid to take risks,” referring to awards such as the South China Morning Post designer Brian Wang’s award of excellence for his first animated story, Tokyo 2020 Olympic climbing debut.

The South China Morning Post was the only Asian news organisation to break into the top 10 of either competition.

Pablo Robles was mentioned as an “Honoree” for The first 100 days of protests in the “Best Individual Editorial Feature by a Media Company” category at the prestigious 24th Annual Webby Awards, which is judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Robles received a second “Honourable Mention” for “Best Visualisation” at the inaugural Sigma awards, for Why your smartphone is causing you ‘text neck’ syndrome. The Sigma awards are a Google News Initiative hosted by the European Journalism Centre, which aims to celebrate best data journalism around the world.

Meanwhile, at the 2019 Hong Kong News Awards, four of the five winners for “Best Single News Page Design” were from the South China Morning Post graphics team. “How MMA roots are in Hong Kong” secured top spot, while “A city torn apart”, illustrated by Brian Wang, Lau Ka-kuen, Henry Wong and Adolfo Arranz and laid out by associate creative director Carl Jones, took first prize for the “Best Series News Page Design category”. Robles’ and Duhaldes’ series of infographics about the Hong Kong protests was the first runner-up, while Arranz, Wang and Perry Tse won the second merit prize in the same category for their illustrated series of pages on the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

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