Six NMG brands, products nominated for global awards
NMG chairman Wilfred Kiboro (centre), CEO Stephen Gitagama (left) and Editorial Director Mutuma Mathiu during the launch of Nation.Africa paywall at Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club on February 08, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The biggest media house in East and Central Africa continues with its transformation from a legacy media house to a 21st century digital content company.
- NMG is changing its business model from an advertiser-revenue-funded operation to a digital subscriptions company.
Six Nation Media Group (NMG) brands and products have been nominated for global awards— just a month after the design of its digital flagship brand, Nation.Africa, was picked as a finalist at the world-renowned International Forum (iF) Design Award 2021.
The awards beckon as the biggest media house in East and Central Africa continues with its transformation from a legacy media house to a 21st century digital content company.
NMG is changing its business model from an advertiser-revenue-funded operation to a digital subscriptions company, riding on reader revenue.
The latest nominations for the 2021 International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards continue to affirm the confidence consumers have in NMG innovative products aimed at delivering exclusive, high quality content anytime, anywhere across devices and platforms.
The six products have been shortlisted in five different categories, pitting them against over 280 other finalists set to battle it out for top honours.
The NMG products are Kusi Ideas Festival, 2020; Nation Leadership Forum, Daily Nation Rebrand, Nation Audio, Nation.Africa and Paywall implementation.
Five different categories
The products made it to the top list after battling it out in the five different categories that attracted 644 entries from 212 news brands in 37 countries across Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
The feat saw NMG join the enviable list of global companies that led the INMA shortlist— brushing shoulders with the likes of News Corp Australia, Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, Russmedia from Austria and NZME from New Zealand.
“This is a testament to the fact that we are now a global company and our products are of the highest calibre with our staff good enough to compete with the best in the world,” said NMG Editorial Director Mutuma Mathiu.
“We thank our stars for the fantastic work they have done.”
Kusi Ideas Festival and Nation Leadership Forum have been shortlisted in the best use of an event to build a news brand.
Kusi festival
The two products will battle it out with similar products from Africa News Agency in Cape Town, South Africa and News Corp, Australia.
The objective of the Kusi festival is to create a Pan-African ideas transaction market to capitalise on the opportunities and innovations available for the continent.
The 2020 festival, held amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, saw 230 delegates attend the event in person, with over 14,000 participants from 44 countries logging on to NMG’s online platforms to follow and contribute to the proceedings.
On the other hand, the leadership forum aims to create an opportunity for Kenyans to discuss issues around pertinent topics such as food security, healthcare system, education and the family unit.
Nation Audio has been shortlisted for best use of voice in story-telling and will battle it out with four other products from Australian Community Media, HT Media in India, News Corp Australia and NZME in Auckland, New Zealand.
Nation.Africa, one of Africa’s premier news and information portals, made it in the best product and tech innovation category and will face off with five similar innovations from ABP in India, African News Agency in South Africa, Amedia in Norway, Metro World News in Chile and Clarin in Argentina.
Scored top marks
And Nation Paywall, the payments gateway for Nation.Africa, scored top marks in the best use of data to drive subscriptions, content or product design.
It will battle in the category with similar products from Amedia, Ippen Digital from Germany, Metro World News from Chile, News Corp Australia and Nine from Australia.
The last three NMG products are geared towards driving content strategy to create more engaging content, improve registrations and subscriptions as well as monetise the same.
From left NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi, Nation Media Group Editorial Director Mutuma Mathiu, Nation Media Group CEO Stephen Gitagama, Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security and Coordination of National Government Fred Matiang'i, NMG Chairman Wilfred Kiboro and ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru during the launch of Nation.Africa at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi on September 4, 2020.
Already, close to 300,000 readers have registered as users on the website and growing, with Nation Puzzles and Nation Audio, launched in December last year, attracting more than 10,200 puzzle players and 10,435 podcast listeners in two months.
Nation Media Group Editorial Director Mutuma Mathiu, CEO Stephen Gitagama and Head of Development and Learning Churchill Otieno at Nation Centre on January 15, 2021, during a celebration of the achievement of 200,000 registrations.
Daily Nation Rebrand has been shortlisted in the best use of print category with three other nominees—including NZME, News Corp Australia and The Times of India Group.
First place winners, regional winners, and the global “Best In Show” will be unveiled June 3 in a virtual announcement.
Pandemic community outreach
INMA is a global community of market-leading news media companies reinventing how they engage audiences and grow revenue in a multi-platform environment.
The INMA community consists of more than 16,000 members at 850 media companies in more than 70 countries.
The competition judges similar brands with groups for national news brands, regional news brands, and — for the first time — groups.
The themes of this year’s competition are pandemic community outreach, brand-building, subscriptions, and data innovation at the heart of the shortlist.
The award has 20 categories focused on excellence in news brands, media platforms, subscriptions, business development, and data and insights.
