We are delighted to announce the 2019 Rising Star in Media winners!
The FIPP Rising Stars in Media Awards 2019, kindly supported by UPM - The Biofore Company, recognise outstanding work in the global media industry. Submissions came from all over the world, including Africa, Europe, America and Asia.
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Soga Mbali was appointed editor of South Africa's True Love magazine in November 2018 and tasked with giving a full turn around to the brand.
"I took the brand back to a consumer - centric model, including our tag line “all a woman needs”. I took out most celebs (except for the cover) and fleshed the content with a more consumer-focused model and included our biggest supporter - the reader – in almost all our content. Basically, going back to basics. I also increased our physical touchpoints with our audience, meaning more experiences and events."
Nerisa Coetzee, General Manager of Media24's monthly magzines, says: “Under Mbali’s leadership, True Love magazine as a brand (including print, digital, event and diverse revenue platforms) has exceeded expectations. True Love was undoubtedly the highlight of the fiscal in Media24’s Lifestyle portfolio. Their success is due to advertising and circulation against the prior year. Mbali also expanded the brand’s portfolio of ticketed events, cementing a diverse revenue stream for the brand’s future. We believe that this past year has established events such as True Love Night of Style, Empower Yourself, Cooking Schools and Financial Workshops for growth in 2019 and beyond.
Mbali started her turn-around strategy with a client roadshow and PR campaign, sharing her vision for the brand. Furthermore, she managed to nurture her team, using existing talent in the right places, sourcing new talent where they were falling short, with the end result being quality content that secured circulation growth quarter on quarter in 2018. Her passion to empower the South African female market continues to inspire us across multiple platforms.”
Our overall winner will have the chance to join the FIPP board of directors for 12 months as a non-voting observer.
(In alphabetical order)
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Rachel Arthur, Founder and Creative Director, Boom Saloon
Janine Matheson, Committee Chair, Boom, says: "Chairing the Boom committee is an honour – I’ve watched Rachel grow since she was a freelancer and boom saloon was a spark of an idea. To see how it has been nurtured and developed since then is a joy. In the past year Rachel has worked strategically to make some real power moves in a challenging industry which will undoubtedly serve as a bounce board for boom’s next steps; her hard work, resilience and refusal to ever give up have placed boom in a strong position and we’re all excited for the next moves."
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Kieran Guilbert, Slavery and Trafficking Editor, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Belinda Goldsmith, Editor-in-Chief, Thomson Reuters Foundation, says: "Kieran joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation five years ago as a junior reporter and has gone from strength to strength, to become one of the most prominent journalists globally covering human trafficking and slavery. After one year in our London reporting team and two years as our West Africa correspondent in Senegal, he now leads a team of nine journalists around the world dedicated to this topic, initiating and leading investigations on the drive to combat slavery and transparency of supply chains that have led to action from both governments and companies. Winning awards for his work, he is now also in high demand as a speaker and trainer at the top global conferences on trafficking and slavery."
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Helen Pye, Senior Digital Writter, Hitched, Immediate Media
Helen says: "My expertise in SEO, digital content planning, and writing quality editorial content has seen Hitched thrive and draw in over 1.2million unique users a month. I have embraced the commercial opportunities at Hitched also: my work delivers significant editorial and social partnership deals that have seen Hitched smash profit predictions month after month in a tough climate."
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Tom Rowley, Editor, Healthy for Men, River Group
Ellie Hughes, Editorial Director, says: "Tom is an ambassador for his brand in the truest sense. From the obvious – a serious gym habit and a dedication to eating six protein-packed meals a day – to the more subtle – a personal commitment to genuinely meaningful content about male mental wellbeing issues. Tackling male loneliness, anxiety and grief, alongside the traditional fitness and nutrition content, has given HFM a modern relevancy to a new audience and greater depth as a general health media brand. It’s also seen him be invited to speak on toxic masculinity at the Festival of Marketing. Tom can work across platforms to a high level of expertise – his detailed and careful podumentaries have won nominations at the British Podcast Awards and the Mind Media Awards alongside much bigger hitters. Sales and engagement stats are healthy, but it’s Tom’s vision and drive that have really enabled HFM to punch well above its weight."
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Rachel Savage, LGBT+ Correspondent, Thomson Reuters Foundation
"With a mandate of delivering fair, accurate and impartial news to a world that isn’t, I have broken multiple stories for Openly, TRF’s dedicated LGBT+ news site. In doing so I have become one of the world’s leading specialist LGBT+ reporters, with expertise on topics from transgender sportspeople to the scapegoating of gay and trans people by right-wing politicians," says Rachel.
Alex Crossley, Digital Editor, Olive magazine, Immediate Media
Laura Jenkins, Digital Marketing Manager, BBC Good Food, Immediate Media
Emily Maitland, Account Manager, River Group
Christoph Pagel, Journalist, Burda Asia
Shahyan Tahseen, Presenter, Rudaw Media Network
The following media companies also receive recognition due to the high quality of submissions:
River Group
Immediate Media
Thomson Reuters Foundation
The FIPP Rising Stars Awards will be presented on 12 November, during the UPM Night of the FIPP World Media Congress in Las Vegas.
Thomas Deléchat is Deputy Head of the Digital Factory of Ringier Axel Springer. Here we catch up with him a year after being awarded a Highly Commended FIPP Rising Star. Keep on reading to find out what he's been up to, his recently acquired skills and why he thinks that video and article views are an overrated term in the media industry.
17th Oct 2019 Rising StarsRachel Arthur is founder and creative director of Boom Saloon, a threefold media company that helps democratise creativity for good. Rachel was awarded Highly Commended in our FIPP Rising Stars Awards 2018. Keep reading to find out more about her passion for creativity, all things green and wild and why should young people in media enter the FIPP Rising Star Awards.
2nd Oct 2019 Rising StarsAndy Greening, Digital Manager at The River Group, answers FIPP's 23 Questions and updates us on what he's been up to after receiving the FIPP Rising Stars in Media Award in 2018. Keep reading to find out more about his passion for podcasting, the skill he's acquired recently and why should young people in media apply for the Awards.
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9th Dec 2019 FeaturesData privacy was a hot topic of discussion at the FIPP World Media Congress, held 12-14 November, 2019 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. The panel included Ting Cai, Partner Director of Product and Technology at Microsoft, Brigitte Gwyn, EVP Government Affairs at MPA, and Jean-Paul Schmetz, Founder and CEO of Cliqz, a division of Burda, and was moderated by Martha Stone Williams, the CEO of World Newsmedia Network. Panellists discussed the state of privacy on the internet, policy measures around the world, and outlined the top three things magazine media can do to bolster their privacy practices.
9th Dec 2019 FeaturesMPA – The Association of Magazine Media in the USA announced the findings of a five-year study of magazine media audiences at the MPA Biennial Research Symposium last week. Under the umbrella of Magazine Media 360°, the magazine media trade group measured consumer demand by brand across formats and platforms using third-party, verified and audited data since 2014.
9th Dec 2019 Insight NewsAssociated Media Publishing is a private company in South Africa that has been in operation for 38 years. Being a family business has allowed the company to be more agile, more innovative, CEO Julia Raphaely outlined in a presentation on November 14, at the FIPP World Media Congress in Las Vegas.
9th Dec 2019 FeaturesFIPP newsletters allow you to keep up with industry trends, research, training and events across the world
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