Arab publishing houses bag awards in best newspaper design contest

Gulf News, already a veteran in this competition for 3 consecutive years, won 8 awards of excellence this year. Arab Media Group's new tabloid Business 24 7 won one award.

The winners came from 14,818 entries submitted by 373 daily and non-daily newspapers around the world.

The top winner in all 19 categories was the Los Angeles Times and its magazine, with 109 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, and 14 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.

"I will be very happy when an Arabic language newspaper will be selected in this competition. Many newspapers like Al Ghad, Emarat Al Youm and Al Balad are doing well, they should also participate in this event," says Douglas Okasaki, Society for News Design Regional Director for Middle East and Africa.

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.

For the first time in the competition a judge from Middle East, Ramachandra Babu, illustrator from Gulf News, participated in judging and selecting the best pages. "It was a great experience to see and judge the newspapers all around the globe. And it was an honour to work for Society for news design," says Babu.

The competition also selects the world's best designed newspaper. Entire newspapers from the cover to the last page with best design are selected, and 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.