The Local Media Digital Innovation Awards, powered by Second Street, recognizes the best in local digital media -- and this year, Graham Media Group is proud to announce that our stations won seven of the honors.
The LMA awards are highly competitive, designed to recognize large and small media companies for their outstanding and innovative work.
This year's contest was judged by Rich Gordon, professor and director of digital innovation at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and his graduate students: Avery Dews, Meredith Gallo, Ju Park, Sonia Singh, Mark Stenberg and Andrew Weiler.
Included with the contest winners’ information are comments from the judges and details about the entry.
Best Social Media Strategy*
This award recognizes the most successful and creative plans when it comes to leveraging social media to expand audience and heighten engagement.
WDIV/ClickOnDetroit took second place. "Strong voice, all content seemed to be on-brand. Engagement in the comments demonstrated that the audience found the content fun and engaging."
Best Digital Audience and Engagement Strategy*
This award recognizes sites that are developing high-quality content, processes and user experiences that have proven to increase overall audience.
KPRC-2 in Houston took first place. "Robust audience and engagement strategy that meets the audience at multiple levels. Thoughtful, well-executed strategy with a strong focus on KPIs and growth. Their strategy to drive audience is centered around a three-pronged approach: 1. Own the big story of the day and do it differently 2. Create content that is fun, useful and evergreen 3. Write for the reader."
Graham Media Group (nationwide) took third place. "A well-executed “best of local” initiative that has generated substantial audience engagement and incremental revenue."
Best New Digital Initiative*
Launching a new digital initiative takes time and resources, so this award showcases the best use of both that drove positive results. This broad category can encompass a digital initiative launched in the last year such as OTT, podcasting, virtual reality, insight selling, custom CMS, or something else that is new and emerging.
In the more than 750,000 unique visitors classification ...
KPRC-2 (Ask2) took third place. "In 2019, KPRC launched Ask 2, through Hearken, in an effort to answer questions they thought their readers were generally curious about. The Hearken platform and model were used effectively not only to engage with readers but also to build branding and content strategy for the station."
Best Digital News Project*
The award for best digital news project will be given to entries that display captivating, innovative, and intentional storytelling. This can be a single piece, a collection, or an ongoing series. Did you take an investigative story, a big project or an ongoing topic and tell the story like no one else could? Did you build a digital experience that was enjoyable to read and interactive?
In the more than 750,000 unique visitors classification ...
KPRC took second place with “Apollo.” "Excellent, diverse mix of stories in multiple formats, all connected to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo launch."
Best Branded Content Strategy *
This award showcases the very best in branded content initiatives.
In the more than 750,000 unique visitors classification ...
WDIV took second place. "This branded content initiative highlights high school students and their accomplishments, plus unsung heroes behind the scenes who make a difference and often go unrecognized. Judge’s comments: Impressive incremental revenue was generated by this branded content initiative."
Best R&D Partner
Congratulations to Social News Desk! Below are some comments from customers that nominated Social News Desk for this year’s Best R&D partner.
“SND and their team have been great at thinking of new and innovative ideas to help local news organizations get their news out to the public in a timely fashion. The program is also a great way for our newsroom to keep track of local police department pages, city pages, fire pages and competitors as we can make columns specifically to track those all in one place.”
“SND supports our Sponsored Content revenue. We are finally able to track and monetize social posts (Facebook) – complete with forecasting and impression (posts) so we can make sure we’re selling at the appropriate CPMs. It also takes the guesswork between coordinating posts from the newsroom and the sales team, so the workflow has been seamless using the SND platform.”
“The entire software they provide for our news station is an incredible tool. The ability to schedule posts, post to multiple platforms, etc. is as powerful of a resource as any for the digital department. The reception addition of an advanced Facebook messenger experience is already opening up a new platform for sponsored content and an immediate increase in clicks and Facebook referral traffic.”
Social News Desk is a Graham Media Group company.
