A community mapping project that involved journalists traipsing through city streets to complete a census and make hand-drawn maps has won a top prize for Scottish duo The Courier and the Press and Journal.

The DC Thomson mastheads were the winners of WAN-Ifra’s Digital Media Awards Europe ‘best data visualisation’ for Tracking the health of our high streets.

The project came from an attempt to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and inflation on a local level, with staff noticing a big gap in data illustrating vacancy rates of retail space on Scottish high streets. In setting out to fill that gap, the journalists went on foot through the cities to complete a census and turned hand drawn maps into interactive floor plans, building a data set and tool that would be valuable for both their newsroom and their audiences. Judges described it as “a great example of data journalism for local newspapers”, with formats “varied and well done”
Winners of the 2024 Digital Media Awards Europe were announced at the weekend, and showcase creativity, inspiration and service to their readers.

The winners of each category will now be automatically entered into the Digital Media World Awards.

Results (with links):

Best Data Visualisation

Project: Community mapping – Tracking the health of our high streets
Company: The Courier and Press and Journal, United Kingdom

Best in Audience Engagement (tie)

Project: Kuglolov
Company: NOVA TV d.d., Croatia

Project: Revitalizing the WELT community
Company: WELT N24 GmbH, Germany

Best News Website

Project: ALT - a Norwegian one stop shop for personalized news content
Company: Amedia, Norway

Best Use of Video

Project: TF1 INFO / TF1 + : the origins of global warming
Company: TF1, France

Best Digital Subscription/Reader Revenue Project

Project: The launch of +Allt - Bonnier News' first bundled product
Company: Bonnier News, Sweden

Best Newsletter

Project: The Chris Giles on Central Banks Newsletter
Company: The Financial Times, United Kingdom

Best Podcast

Project: #HerNameWas
Company: Stampen Lokala Medier, Sweden

Best Use of AI in the Newsroom

Project: Russmedia meets AI
Company: Russmedia, Austria

Best Use of AI in Revenue Strategy

Project: The Platform Intelligence in News project (PIN)
Company: Ekstra Bladet, Denmark

Best Fact Checking Project

Project: AFP Fact Check: how to verify information online
Company: Agence France-Presse, France

Best Innovative Digital Product

Project: The Short Version
Company: VG, Norway

Best Native Advertising Campaign

Project:The Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation
Company: Bonnier News, Sweden

Judges were: Kevin Anderson, Valérie Arnould, Sylvia Binner, Anja Bonelli, Danuta Breguła, Michael Brunt, Henning Bulka, Jeremy Clifford, Pepe Cerezo Gilarranz, Steffen Damborg, Gilles Danet, Martin Fröhlich, Danny Gawlowski, Teemu Henriksson, Alan Hunter, Lyndsey Jones, Zsuzsa Kekesi, Ivar Krustok, Carole Lardot, Nokuthula Manyathi, Stéphane Mayoux, Paul McNally, Rachel Middlewick, Leonardo Pescante, Penny Riordan, Dean Roper, Thomas Seymat, Alizée Szwarc, Denis Vannier, Brian Veseling and Gregor Waller

Pictured: The Dundee publisher hit the streets to map COVID-19’s impact on local shops