October 26, 2010

Canadian Online Publishing award winners raise bar

Second annual awards celebrate industry's best

Recognizing the best in online editorial and innovation by Canadian publishers, the second annual online publishing awards have been announced. The awards program is produced by Masthead and entrants were judged in three divisions: the Red Division for consumer, custom, religious, and public association websites, the Blue Division, for business to business, professional association, farm, and scholarly websites and the Green Division for daily and weekly newspapers and sites produced by broadcasters.  

New this year was the Green Division for daily and weekly newspapers and sites produced by broadcasters.  The Toronto Star  took home the award for Best Overall Companion Website in the category, along with prizes for Best Video and Best Cross-Platform Initiative. CBC News and Cyberpresse  also won multiple awards in the new division.  

Also new for 2010 was the award for Best Mobile Application. Transcontinental-owned  The Hockey News  took the prize in the Red Division, Spafax’s  Sparksheet  in the Blue Division and  Cyberpresse came out on top in the Green Division.  

The online home for Rogers-published  Maclean’s  took home the award for Best Companion Website in the Red Division, while  Salon52  was a repeat winner in the Blue Division.  

130 finalists also received certificates at last night’s reception. Entries in the contest represent large and small publishers and broadcasters all over the country with magazine websites, online-only websites, daily and weekly newspaper sites and websites produced by broadcasters.  

Websites competed in up to 11 categories ranging from best news articles to best design to overall best website. All entries in each category were reviewed by an  independent judging panel of highly regarded industry professionals and experts. The panels determined the winner and list of finalists in each category, based on their own expertise and criteria.  

The 32 winners in their respective categories and division are:

Best Overall Companion Website

Red Division:   Macleans.ca

Blue Division:  Salon52.ca

Green Division:  Thestar.com


Best Overall Online-Only Website

Red Division:  Vitamindaily.com

Blue Division:  Sparksheet.com

Green Division:  Cbcnews.ca


Best Mobile Application

Red Division:  Thehockeynews.com

Blue Division:  Sparksheet.com

Green Division:  Cyberpresse.ca


Best Online-Only Article, Series of Articles

Red Division:  Torontoist.com

Blue Division:  Sparksheet.com

Green Division:  Vancouverobserver.com


Best Community Feature

Red Division:  besthealthmag.ca

Blue Division:  IT World Canada: Blog Idol

Green Division:  CBCnews.ca


Best News

Red Division:  Torontoist.com

Blue Division:  Universityaffairs.ca

Green Division:  Theglobeandmail.com


Best Cross-Platform Initiative

Red Division:  Fashionmagazine.com

Blue Division:  Canadianlawyermag.com

Green Division:  Thestar.com


Best E-Newsletter

Red Division:  20minutesupperclub.com

Blue Division:  Sparksheet.com


Best Website Design

Red Division:  Vitamindaily.com

Blue Division:  Universityaffairs.ca

Green Division:  Cyberpresse.ca


Best Video

Red Division:  ElleQuébec.com

Blue Division:  Trucknews.com

Green Division:  Thestar.com


Best Blog

Red Division:  Macleans.ca

Blue Division:  Reportr.net

Green Division:  Cbcnews.ca