dish takes top honours at Magazine Media Awards

In what has been a challenging year for many masterheads – the closure of the New Zealand arm of Bauer in the midst of a global pandemic, navigating the challenge of a countrywide lockdown and now economic downturn – Friday night was a time to reflect and celebrate the successes the magazine industry has had in the past year. And successes there have been.

The 2020 Webstar Magazine Media Awards were staged at the iconic Citizen Park in Kingsland with the industry coming together for a low-key event that saw its usual category list halved. Despite this, the Magazine Publishers Association – who put on the Awards – was pleased with the good number of entries received this year.

MPA Chair, Nicholas Burrowes, referencing new and re-imagined titles on the market, and the largely independent New Zealand-owned cohort as reasons to be positive about the direction the industry is headed. These positives supported by the many titles who have seen great success despite the challneges.

One of which is dish magazine, not only taking out the Supreme Winner on the night, but also People’s Choice Magazine of the Year and Webstar Best Magazine of the Year in the home, food and lifestyle category.

Here’s what the judges had to say: “This year, dish showed us all how to survive a pandemic and a publishing shut down. It sneaked in under the wire with a Home Comforts issue full of food that was spot-on for locked down Kiwis … and then delivered spot-on email missives throughout the lockdown to back it up.

“Editor Sarah Tuck cooked, styled and photographed from her living room – and kept right on listening and responding to what her audience were wanting. Dish is a magazine perfectly in tune with its readers. A well deserved win.”

Tuck tells StopPress that although it has been a tough year for magazines, she couldn’t be prouder of the dish team for receiving the Awards. “They have worked like trojans this year, but it has been so worth it to engage with our readers more than ever, and produce a magazine, that I believe is getting better with every issue. I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going in 2021, but for now, I’m just going to celebrate.”

Of particular interest to StopPress was the Supreme Advertiser of the Year and Best Marketing/ Sales Solution, dished out to Resene and Good magazine and TiOra respectively. Not surprisingly, Justine Jamieson, Commercial Manager of Good magazine won Most Valuable Team Member.

The judges said of Resene: “[The brand] really understands magazines and how to use them. Karen Warman and her team have a huge depth and breadth of knowledge about different titles, and use a full diversity of magazine tactics, including publishing their own magazines, running competitions, sponsoring magazine events, creating cross-platform content. They cleverly leverage the editorial smarts of different titles to achieve different messages for their products. A standout winner.”

Full winners list

SUPREME MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR

Winner: Dish

Finalists: NZ Geographic, EG

SUPREME MAGAZINE ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR

Winner: Resene

HC: Fisher & Paykel

Finalists: APL, Ford

PEOPLE’S CHOICE MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR

Winner: Dish

Finalists: NZ Life &Leisure; Motorhomes, Caravans & Destinations

WEBSTAR BEST MAGAZINE

Consumer, special interest, current affairs & business

Winner: NZ Geographic

HC: Wilderness

Finalists: 66 Magazine, NZBusiness + Management

Home, food & lifestyle (including mass market)

Winner: Dish

HC: Homestyle 

Finalists: NZ House & Garden, NZ Gardener

Trade

Winner: EG

HC: NZ Dairy Exporter 

Finalists: Build, CountryWide

BEST COVER

Consumer, special interest, current affairs, business & trade

Winner: NZ Hunter

HC: NZ Lifestyle Block 

Finalists: NZ Geographic, NZ Horse & Pony

Home, food & lifestyle

Winner: Here

HC: Kiwi Gardener

Finalist: Good

Non-newsstand

Winner:  Country-Wide Beef

HC: SheEO

BEST JOURNALIST

Consumer, special interest, current affairs, business & trade

 Winner: Sally Blundell, NZ Listener

Finalists: Kate Evans, NZ Geographic; Rebecca Hayter, North & South and EG magazine; Zahra Shahtahmasebi, NZ Doctor

Home, food & lifestyle (including mass market)

Winner: Mei Leng Wong, NZ Gardener

HC: Emma Rawson, NZ Life & Leisure

NZ POST BEST EDITOR

Winner: Alistair Hall, Wilderness

HC: Emma Rawson, This NZ Life

Finalists: Kelli Brett, Cuisine; Claire Smith, Motorhomes, Caravans & Destinations.

BEST COLUMNIST/BLOGGER

Winner: Rebecca Hayter, North & South

HC: Lucy Corry, This NZ Life

HC Melody Thomas, Capital

BEST COVID RESPONSE

Winner: HERE magazine

HC: Life & Leisure

HC: Shepherdess

BEST DESIGNER/DESIGN TEAM

Winner: Shalee Fitzsimmons, Capital magazine

HC: Juliette Wanty, Homestyle

Finalist: Yolanta Woldendorp, Lifestyle Magazines; Sarah Jayne Shaw, Shepherdess

BEST DIGITAL BRAND

Winner: This NZ Life

HC: Capsule

BEST SALES/MARKETING SOLUTION

Winner: Good magazine and TiOra

HC: Motorhomes, Caravans and Destinations and the Covi SuperShow collaboration

Finalist: Good magazine and Best of Naturals

MOST VALUABLE TEAM MEMBER

Winner: Justine Jamieson, Good magazine

Finalists:  Monique Bulman, ICG media; Cathy Kettell, Eye Magazine and Chinese Eye Magazine 

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