CBCNews.ca named digital publication of the year in inaugural DPA awards

CBCNews.ca was last night named digital publication of the year in the inaugural Digital Publishing Awards, presented by the National Magazine Awards Foundation. It also won in three other gold medals in other categories (see below).

The DPAs, as they'll doubtless be called, precede the long-established National Magazine Awards which take place Friday evening as the culmination of Magazines Week. Previous to  this the Magawards have endeavoured to recognize digital publishing -- as opposed to traditional print --  in a variety of ways; the latest is this new awards program. Joyce Byrne, the president of the foundation (and publisher of Avenue Calgary) said:

“The inaugural Digital Publishing Awards have been a great success. It was wonderful to have so many of Canada’s best digital creators gathered together to recognize outstanding journalism, celebrate their exceptional creativity and learn from each other. As I look at the work of the nominees and winners this year, it’s clear that digital publishing has a bright future in Canada.”

Among the winners in the awards:

Details of medal winners:

Best digital initiative

• Gold  I Love Potatoes, National Film Board of Canada
• Silver Star Touch Slice, Toronto Star

Best use of multiple platforms

• Gold, Sportsnet
• Silver,Today’s Parent

Best digital design

• Gold, torontolife.com, Toronto Life 
• Silver,Canada's Best New Restaurants 2015, Air Canada enRoute

Best digital editorial package

• Gold, Missing & Murdered: Unsolved cases of indigenous women and girls,
• CBCNews.ca
•  Silver, Out of the Shadows, UBC International Reporting Program

Best online video

• Gold, Thirty Hours of Terror, The Globe and Mail
• Silver,Elton McDonald: The tunnel digger, Maclean’s

Best feature: long

• Gold, Omar Khadr in his own words, The Toronto Star
• Silver, The Wreck Of HMS Erebus, BuzzFeed Canada

Best feature: short 

• Gold, Refugee crisis makes for strange sights on Lesbos, CBCNews.ca
• Silver,Beating Back the Crazy Art Ants, Hakai Magazine

Best podcast series 

• Gold, The Thrill, Maclean’s
• Silver, At the Letters, Sportsnet 

Best visual storytelling 

• Gold, Life at CFS Alert, The Globe and Mail
• Silver, The Science of Sport, Toronto Star

Best use of data

• Gold, Election Forecast, The Globe and Mail
• Silver, Rental Calculator, The Globe and Mail

Best multimedia storytelling in a single feature

• Gold, The Taken, The Globe and Mail
• Silver,Bad Dream, The Globe and Mail

Best news coverage

• Gold, Canada Votes, CBCNews.ca
• Silver, Federal Election 2015, Maclean’s

Best blog or online-only column

• Gold, QP Live, Maclean’s
• Silver, Stacey May Fowles column (web exclusive), The Walrus