Mumbrella held its Publish Awards last week, which saw larger publishers and content agencies dominate, and a few smaller print publishers shine through – Robb Report, Paragon Media, Missprint Media, Schwartz Media, the Law Society of NSW.
News Corp was awarded seven awards, Nine won three and Bauer Media won two awards.
Custom publisher Medium Rare Content Agency won four awards, including Designer of the Year, Magazine Cover of the Year – Business (for Company Director), Editor of the Year – Business (for Michelle Endacott, Editor of The Farmer produced on behalf of NSW Farmers), and Customer Publication of the Year (for Jetstar Magazine).
Meanwhile, fellow custom publishers Hardie Grant Media took out Publisher of the Year – Large, and Grin Creative was awarded Publishing of the Year – Small.
Wins for small publishers included:
- Pamela Williams from The Monthly, Schwartz Media – Single article of the year
- Robb Report – Publish award for innovation
- Concrete Playground – Salesperson/tem of the year
- Mahlab Media for Engineers Australia (Create) – Website of the year – business
- LSJ – The Law Society of NSW – Association or member organisation publication of the year
- Paragon Media’s Daily Cargo News – Launch/relaunch of the year – small
- Missprint Media’s Kookie Magazine – Consumer publication of the year – small.
Momentum Media, who had received the most shortlisted entries for a publisher, received no awards.
Interestingly, Nine’s The Australian Financial Review (AFR) was awarded Business Publication of the Year, over Momentum Media’s Lawyers Weekly, and three of Medium Rare’s custom publications: The Farmer, Company Director and Acuity.
The AFR is a great publication, but it is a daily newspaper as opposed to a periodical magazine, which points to different drivers and definitions of success for content, audience and revenue.
Should newspapers and magazines participate in the same award categories, and is it a level-playing field if they do?
The full list of Publish Awards 2019 winners is available on the Mumbrella website.