A Brazilian news site focusing on the country’s governmental institutions and a collaborative newsroom set up to fact-check the Mexican elections were among the winners of the 2019 World Digital Media Awards.
JOTA specializes in covering Brazil’s governmental institutions. (Screenshot)
Brazil’s Jota won for Best Digital News Start-up and was noted for its subscriber business model, quality information and newsletter offerings. It was created to cover the Brazilian judicial system, but has since expanded to other governmental branches.
“A well-executed product launch in response to a clear market need with a robust and evolving business model. If only all new digital products were this clearly thought out!,” one of the judges wrote, according to a press release from the World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), which organizes the awards.
Verificado, a collaboration between AJ+ Español, news site Animal Político and Pop-Up Newsroom, as well as other media and civil society organizations in Mexico, won for Best Innovation to Engage Youth Audiences. The innovative project set up a newsroom to verify information posted on social media during the 2018 elections and disseminated its findings on those same networks.
"A very impressive effort involving so many newsrooms in Mexico - educating young people as well as providing them with verified and impartial information about elections in the time where so many voted for the first time is very important,” one of the judges said, according to WAN-IFRA.
Jota and Verificado were recognized along with eight other news products during the World News Media Congress in Glasgow, Scotland on June 2.
Both won at the LATAM Digital Media Awards and went on to compete against winners from regional contests in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South Asia.
Newsroom of Verificado 2018 (Courtesy)
