News Digital Media Dual Winner at the 2009 Newspaper of the Year Awards

News Digital Media Dual Winner at The 2009 Newspaper of the Year Awards

 news.com.au awarded News Website of the Year

The Punch named Specialist Website of the Year

News Digital Media has scooped two awards at the prestigious Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association (PANPA) 2009 Newspaper of the Year Awards held last night in Sydney.

News and information website, news.com.au was awarded News Website of the Year (metropolitan/national) in its category of 11 nominees while four month old commentary site, The Punch, was named Specialist Website of the Year, beating BusinessDay.

News Limited won all awards in the online category with leadernews.com.au, receiving News Website of the Year (rural/regional/suburban). Richard Freudenstein, chief executive officer of News Digital Media said that winning the awards was testament to the company’s high quality journalism and innovation.

“Since its relaunch a year ago, news.com.au has been in a field of its own. It has done this by having a clear understanding of its readers and their needs. Still the only major Australian news site to be fully customisable, news.com.au produces innovative and interactive editorial features specifically created for its digital audience.

“In just four months The Punch has established itself as Australia’s pre-eminent commentary site. It came out swinging, with a perfect formula of intelligent debate and forthright opinion and hasn’t let up since.

“I am extremely proud of the teams at news.com.au and The Punch for their ongoing efforts and congratulate them on their dedication to high-quality journalism and editorial innovation.”

Of the PANPA award entries, Mark Hollands, chief executive officer of PANPA said: “The quality of entries is generally accepted as the best-ever by our regular judges.

 "The entries underscore the vibrancy and professionalism of the newspaper industry - in print and digital. “The awards come down to the quality of our people - and there is no doubt they are among the very best and most innovative in the world.”

In the last year, news.com.au grew its traffic faster than any of its major competitors. The site signed commercial and distribution deals with iGoogle and Nokia’s Ovi store and created made-for-medium editorial features such as the 2009 Instabudget (news.com.au/instabudget), 2009 Green Awards (news.com.au/greenawards) and Adopt-a-village (news.com.au/adoptavillage).

The Punch, edited by former The Daily Telegraph editor David Penberthy, is Australia’s leading opinion driven and current affairs news site. It features some of the nation's best writers and biggest names discussing current events in politics, entertainment, sport, business and more, including Kevin Rudd, Joe Hockey, Tracey Spicer, Leigh Sales, Kate Ellis and Maxine McKew.

The PANPA awards were held last night at the Masonic Centre in Sydney.