Singapore Press Holdings emerged the biggest winner at WAN-IFRA's Digital Media Awards Asia 2021, with a haul of two Golds and four Silvers. Coconuts Media clinches six awards to top small/ medium category.

Now in their 20th year, WAN-IFRA’s Asian Media Awards aim to promote the highest publishing standards in the fields of newspaper and magazine design, infographics, editorial content, marketing, community service, revenue diversification and photojournalism.

A new batch of six APAC news media companies will embark on the second edition of the Newsroom and Business Transformation Asia (NBTA) programme. It follows the success of the last year's groundbreaking initiative. The programme starts this week and will run until November 2021.

The second annual round of The Young Media Leaders Fellowship (YMLF) is launched today with a new batch of twenty-eight high-potential mid-career editors and journalists from nineteen publications in eleven countries. The YMLF is an initiative of the World Editors Forum Asia Chapter and WAN-IFRA supported by Temasek Foundation. The programme offers leadership and professional development and networking opportunities through dedicated online and physical platforms.

Schibsted's subsidiary Adevinta announced a definitive agreement with eBay Inc. to acquire 100 percent of eBay Classifieds Group. As part of the transaction, Schibsted has acquired the Danish part of the business, DBA.dk and bilbasen.dk. Today we mark that the agreement has been completed, and Schibsted's online classified adventure in Denmark can begin.

The prospect of an easing of international travel restrictions as COVID-19 vaccinations increase has prompted WAN-IFRA to shift the dates of its World News Media Congress in Taipei, Taiwan, from 28-30 September to 1-3 December 2021.

WAN-IFRA publishes a new guide to help media executives initiate change in their newsrooms. The handbook summarizes key lessons shared during the Cultural Change Ignition Program for Latin American News Publishers.

One of the many silver linings of the pandemic for publishers has been the ability of their organisations to adapt quickly to this changing environment. For many, this meant speeding up their digital transformation efforts. In its just-published World Press Trends Outlook report, publishers told WAN-IFRA that accelerating their digital transformation strategy was the most important change to make.

WAN-IFRA is inviting entries for its 4th annual Print Innovation Awards. The World Printers Forum’s competition celebrates the most innovative print ads as well as newspaper and magazine publishers’ products worldwide. The awards will be presented in Frankfurt at the World Printers Summit in October 2021.

The tenth edition of WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media India (DMI) conference was held virtually from 2 to 4 March, with more than 200 news media executives from over 15 countries in attendance. The Hindu Group was named "Champion Publisher of the year" on the occasion of the South Asian Digital Media 2020 Awards Ceremony.

WAN-IFRA launches a new programme in the Middle East to drive newsroom transformation towards reader revenue success
A programme tailored to pioneering Middle Eastern newsrooms, the Newsroom Transformation Programme 2021 will be launched on May 18, 2021. It will provide intensive coaching, training and mentoring over three months to senior editorial and commercial participants. Ten selected news publishers across the Middle East will be able to speed up the transformation of their newsrooms to ensure they are both audience-centric and sustainable.
The participants will be drawn from the 10 news organisations which are selected from applications by WAN-IFRA members in the region. A formal call for applicants will go out next week.
Facebook and WAN-IFRA have partnered to launch the new initiative. Mechthild Schimpf, Director Middle East of WAN-FRA said: “All over the world, newsrooms are having to transform to stay relevant and sustainable – and not only because of COVID-19. We are delighted that through this partnership with Facebook, we can be a catalyst and help news publishers in the region develop the skills and generate ideas to move their newsrooms and products to the next level.”
“Facebook is committed to ensuring traditional news outlets can create thriving digital businesses. Our partnership with WAN-IFRA to bring the Newsroom Transformation Programme 2021 to the Middle East reinforces these efforts that support the news ecosystem in the region,” said Mohamed Omar, Strategic Partner Manager, News Partnerships Middle East, and North Africa at Facebook.

The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) announces a new DKK 6.5M (€900k) partnership with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support media freedom in nine countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.