Property Week picked up a hat-trick of prizes at last night’s PPA awards.
Editor Giles Barrie picked up the awards for business media editor of the year and weekly business magazine of the year while Deirdre Hipwell was named business magazine writer of the year.
The judges said that United Business Media’s Property Week was: ‘A fantastic example of a magazine’s ability to transcend the printed page and diversify its income streams. Innovative and impressive”.
Consumer magazine editor of the year was Alexander Milas from Future Publishing’s music weekly Metal Hammer.
The judges said: “Alexander lives and breathes the world of heavy metal, the magazine drips with as much enthusiasm as it does blood. To have conceived and then achieved the idea of entombing an issue of the magazine in a metal sleeve should be an inspiration to every editor to fight for crazy ideas.”
Business media brand of the year was Reed Business Information’s XpertHR and the consumer brand of the year was IPC Media’s weekly lads’ mag Nuts.
The awards were held at the Grosvenor hotel in London last night.
Full list of winners for the PPA awards 2009 (with judges’ comments):
Business media brand of the year:
XpertHR, Reed Business Information
“XpertHR showed a radical approach to moving the brand to meet the dynamics of its market – a compelling and impressive example of brand diversification.”
Consumer media brand of the year:
Nuts, IPC Media
“Nuts responds at every turn to the needs and desires of its audience, sharing the passion of the reader and demonstrating a single-minded commercial exploitation of the brand.”
Designer of the year (business media):
Tatiana Okorie, Barclays 360 magazine, Redwood
“This magazine is readable and looks gorgeous. The info-graphics and data are presented elegantly and the use of photography and typography is fantastic.”
Designer of the year (consumer magazines)
Marissa Bourke, Elle, Hachette Filipacchi
“This redesign is really brave in its market. The quality is high throughout, the covers are fantastic and nothing is superfluous.”
Writer of the year (business media)
Deirdre Hipwell, Property Week, UBM
“Deidre has an impressive grasp of a wide range of topics underpinned by an equally top-flight contact list. She is not afraid to ask difficult questions and her work demonstrates huge amounts of originality and flair.”
Writer of the year (consumer magazines)
Robert Chalmers, GQ, The Condé Nast Publications
“Each article captivates the reader from start to finish, displaying a tremendous lightness of touch and incredible flair.”
Columnist of the year (business media)
Mark Ritson, Marketing, Haymarket Business Media
“Mark’s writing is engaging, accessible, well researched and brave! His entry stood out head and shoulders above the rest.”
Columnist of the year (consumer media)
Monty Don, Gardeners’ World, BBC Magazines
“Monty has bags of passion and personality and is an immensely valuable asset to the Gardeners’ World brand. His writing keeps the reader hooked right until the end, and provides a real reason to buy the magazine.”
Editor of the year (business media)
Giles Barrie, Property Week, UBM
“Giles showed incredible energy and achieved amazing results in a terribly difficult climate.”
Editor of the year (consumer magazines)
Alexander Milas, Metal Hammer, Future Publishing
“A unanimous decision. Alexander lives and breathes the world of heavy metal – the magazine drips with as much enthusiasm as it does blood! To have conceived and then achieved the idea of entombing an issue of the magazine in a metal sleeve should be an inspiration to every editor to fight for crazy ideas.”
Publisher of the year (business media)
Louise Rogers, Times Higher Education (THE), TSL Education
“Relaunching a significant online offering without losing paid subscribers was an excellent achievement. Louise has taken an old fashioned, moribund newspaper and turned it into a well written, well-designed and well-structured modern magazine.”
Publisher of the year (consumer magazines).
Mike Soutar, ShortList, ShortList Media
“Mike is hugely creative and innovative. To achieve this growth in such a competitive marketplace is an extraordinary achievement.”
Publisher of the year (annual turnover under £5 million).
Mike Soutar, ShortList, ShortList Media
“ShortList is an original and exciting concept. Mike has led a great team effort with a real sense of fun and achieved phenomenal results against all the odds.”
Business website of the year
fwi.co.uk, Reed Business Information
“FWI has taken a number of steps to address the specific needs of its community, using all the tools currently available to enhance the reader experience, including an appropriate use of social media. Revenue and traffic growth are particularly impressive.”
Interactive consumer magazine of the year
nme.com, IPC Media
“NME.com is a site which has consistently dominated in its sector, with fantastic cross media integration, first-class content and excellent commercial results.”
Editorial campaign of the year
Safer skyline, Building, UBM
“Building’s Safer Skyline campaign was fantastically successful for the magazine and its readers. By the end of 2008, the campaign had achieved everything it had set out to achieve, vastly improving the safety of construction sites.”
International consumer magazine of the year
Top Gear, BBC Magazines
“Top Gear has shown consistent brand values across its network, with exceptional circulations for new launches in a difficult period for the motoring industry.”
Monthly business magazine of the year
Creative Head, Alfol
“Creative Head delivers what readers want and lots of it – the magazine oozes with enthusiasm and has a recession-busting feel with huge issue sizes to rival Vogue. The amount of in-magazine innovation, together with the creative and profitable brand extensions, is particularly impressive.”
Specialist consumer magazine of the year
Coast, The National Magazine Company
“Coast is a beautiful magazine which has cleverly created its own market and had huge commercial and circulation success. A worthy winner.”
Weekly business magazine of the year
Property Week, UBM
“A fantastic example of a magazine’s ability to transcend the printed page and diversify its income streams. Innovative and impressive.”
Customer magazine of the year
Sainsbury’s Magazine, Sainsbury’s, Seven Squared
“This could be called the lifetime achievement award – after 15 years, Sainsbury’s Magazine is now even more popular with its readers after a 2008 revamp. The relaunch figures are extremely impressive. This is a magazine that is not only popular as a magazine in its own right, but has proved hugely effective in creating a strong relationship with Sainsbury’s.”
Consumer magazine of the year
Woman & Home, IPC Media
“Woman & Home is a tremendously assured product that really understands and meets the needs of its readers. The magazine has achieved incredible growth in an impossible market – a very worthy winner.”
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