Newspaper & Mailroom

Asia Leads the Way With World Young Reader Prizes

Tuesday 10. July 2012 - With its relatively young populations and growing literacy, it is no surprise that Asia is leading the way on strategies to attract young people to newspapers, on all platforms.

I-Next of India was presented with the 2012 World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year award in a ceremony at the Young Reader Asia-Pacific Summit on Tuesday (10 July), which drew newspaper publishers and other news media executives from 25 countries to Bangkok, Thailand this week.
The annual awards from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), recognized 19 newspapers and a printing plant for innovative strategies and projects that attract young people to the news.
“Youth matter more today than ever. This is not only as future readers and opinion makers, but because, right now, they are spearheading important changes in all facets of life, technology and civil society,” said Jacob Mathew, President of WAN-IFRA, in presenting the awards.
“According to the United Nations, 62 per cent of the world’s 15- to 24-year olds live in Asia. That means almost two out of every three people in that age group are in this region. Thus it makes sense for WAN-IFRA’s new focus on young readership development within regions of the world should start in Asia. We must start early and connect often.”
In addition to taking the Young Reader Newspaper of the Year award, India’s I-Next also won the top award in the public service category for a project that encouraged 18- to 25-year olds to vote. Part of the work was a survey that found youth interested in change, especially getting rid of corruption. The elections saw the highest turnout in 30 years and the election of the youngest-ever state chief minister.
“I-Next did an excellent job,” the prize jury noted. “We found it especially interesting that youth considered corruption the number one topic of concern.”
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) annually awards the World Young Reader Prizes to newspapers that have devised the best project or activity to attract young readers. Support for this year’s prizes comes from Norske Skog, the Norway-based global paper producer.