SND Honors Best-Designed Global-Warming News Pages

1,166 awards, including four ‘World’s Best-Designed™’ Newspapers, released

North Kingstown, R.I. — In its 29th annual “The Best of Newspaper Design™ Creative Competition,” the Society for News Design has named four “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers™” and issued 1,162 other design awards for journalism published in 2007. The winners came from 14,818 entries submitted by 373 daily and nondaily newspapers around the world.

In a new topic, two Awards of Excellence were given for coverage of global warming, to Publico in Madrid and Dagens Industri in Stockholm.

This year’s “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers™” are:

• Akzia in Moscow, bi-weekly, circulation 200,000

• Expresso in Paco de Arcos, Portugal, weekly, circulation 140,000

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in Frankfurt, Germany, weekly, circulation 320,000

• The Guardian in London, daily, circulation 355,750.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and The Guardian were honored previously as “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers™”. Judges said they sought consistency as one key in evaluating the 343 entries in that category.

In the 18 other competition categories, judges awarded eight Gold medals, 28 Silver medals, four Judges’ Special Recognitions and 1,122 Awards of Excellence.

“Judges selected only the very best entries to win medals,” said C. Marshall Matlock, competition and judging director for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the competition committee director for SND. “It’s a busy time for the industry and an exciting year for design. It’s gratifying so many good designs were honored for 2007’s work. It speaks well for design and newsrooms from around the world, and continues to make the Society’s competition the most prestigious in the world.”

The competition, co-sponsored by SND and the Newhouse School, recognizes excellence in newspaper design, graphics and photography. Former news designer Greg Swanson, promotion and marketing executive for Extreme Challenge Mixed Martial Arts, served as the 29th Edition competition coordinator. Judges from around the globe met in two stages over two long weekends in February at the Newhouse School in Syracuse, N.Y.

Gold medals were awarded to the Los Angeles Times for Genaro’s Molina’s portrait photo of Joyce Simms Wood and two multiple-photo projects; the Plain Dealer in Cleveland for an Andrea Levy illustration on taxes; The San Francisco Chronicle for an entertainment package, “The Price of Fun”; The New York Times for an entertainment page on the new season; The New York Times Magazine for a photo series on great performers; and The Guardian in London for a feature spread on the story of O.J. Simpson and the Goldman family.

The top winner in all 19 categories was the Los Angeles Times and its magazine, with109 awards;

Of the 193 newspapers from 33 countries that earned awards, the United States led with 707 awards, followed by 92 for Canada, 65 for Mexico, 43 for Turkey, 42 for Spain, 23 each for Argentina and El Salvador, 21 each for Germany, Brazil and Sweden, 20 for Denmark, 18 for England, and14 for Portugal.

Other award winners included newspapers from Australia, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

The 14,818 entries were up from last year’s 13,862, but less than the high of 15,020 entries in 2005. Judges honored 1,166 winners, fewer than the 1,748 in 2007, and more than the 1,135 in 2006 and 1,082 in 2005. Newspapers of less than 50,000 circulation earned 144 awards in this year’s competition.

The four judges for the “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers™” category, who made their choices Feb. 15-19, were:

• Michael Adams, art director, Basler Zeitung, Basel, Switzerland

• John Belknap, creative director, The Jewish Chronicle, London

• Tim Goheen, art director, McClatchy-Tribune, Washington, DC

• Christopher P. Winner, editor and publisher, The American magazine, Rome.

The 27 judges for the general competition, who met Feb. 9-11, were:

• Kerri Abrams, senior designer/news design department, The Dallas Morning News

• Staci Andrews, designer, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland

• Ramachandra Babu, illustrator, Gulf News, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

• Reagan Branham, page designer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Vince Chiaramonte, art director Sports/Features, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News

• Brian Scott Ching, art director, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee

• Pablo Corral Vega, photographer, Quito, Ecuador

• Amanda Cox, graphics editor, The New York Times

• Linda Grist Cunningham, executive editor, Rockford (Ill.) Register Star

• Rick Epps, news design editor, The Detroit News

• Vladdo Florez, director, News + Design, Miami

• Susan Gilbert, A.M.E./administration and operations, San Francisco Chronicle

• Claudia Alexandra Guillén Arruda, assistant professor, Universidad Peruana de Ciencios Apricadas, Lima, Peru

• Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor, Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun

• Neil Hopp, director of student media, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Mich.

• Hans-Peter Janisch, consultant/faculty, Grossenlueder, Germany

• Marek Knap, head art director, Edipresse Polska, Warsaw

• Karl Kuntz, M.E./graphics, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

• Kenney Marlatt, designer, The Indianapolis Star

• Steve McKinstry, graphics team leader, The Oregonian, Portland

• Chris Morris, art director, Las Vegas Sun

• Pai, graphics director, San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News

• Leslie Plesser, art director, Minneapolis Star Tribune

• Bill Pliske, senior editor/presentation, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix

• Julie Simon, graphics and features design editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

• Chris Snider, editor, Juice & dmJuice.com, Des Moines, Iowa

• Kelli Sullivan, deputy design director/news projects, Los Angeles Times.

The winners are listed in a searchable database at http://www.snd.org/competitions/contest29.lasso. Images of the winning entries will be added in a few weeks. Coverage from both competition weekends can be seen at www.snd.org/update. The top award winners will be honored during the Society’s 30th Annual Workshop and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Sept. 7-9. Winners and the judges’ comments will be showcased in the 29th Edition book, “The Best of Newspaper Design™,” available this fall.

The Society for News Design is an international professional organization with a mission to enhance communication around the world through excellence in visual journalism. The Society, founded in 1979, has more than 2,000 professional, educator and student members in 52 countries. To learn more, visit http://www.snd.org.