Ten winners and 16 excellence awardees from eleven categories were celebrated during the 5th Asian Publishing Awards (APA) in Bangkok on July 8, 2011.

The event was held as part of the culmination of the Asian Publishing Convention (APC), the Premier Learning Conference and Expo for Publishing Managers in Asia, that saw 248 delegates attend from 17 countries and hosted by The Magazine Association of Thailand (TMAT).

The Asian Publishing Awards is Asia’s premier Awards program that recognizes best publishing practices in Asia. It incorporates the Asian Magazine Management Awards, Asian Book Publishing Awards, and the Asian Corporate Communications Awards, which attracted 63 entries from 29 companies representing nine countries.

The award winners and excellence awardees in their respective categories are:

ASIAN MAGAZINE MANAGEMENT AWARDS

Multimedia Consumer Research
Excellence Award: Alphabet Media Pte. Ltd., “FutureGov Research” (Singapore)

Advertising Delivery
Winner: Alphabet Media Pte. Ltd., “Channel Sponsorship” (Singapore)
Excellence Award: Singapore Press Holdings, “Singapore Blog Awards 2010” (Singapore)

Innovative Business Models
Winner: CommonWealth Publishing Group, “An In-depth Guide to Shanghai World Expo” (Taiwan)
Excellence Award: Hinge Inquirer Publications, “Targeted Multimedia Platform (TMP)” (Philippines)

Effective Digital Publishing
Winner: Adobo Magazine, “Adobo Magazine Adobo Digital” (Philippines)
Excellence Award: CommonWealth Magazine Group “Do Active Green Living and Eliminate CO2 from Taiwan!” (Taiwan)

Best Use of UGC (User-Generated Content)
Winner: Alphabet Media Pte. Ltd. “GovNet” (Singapore)
Excellence Awardees: CommonWealth Magazine Group, “Do Active Green Living and Eliminate CO2 from Taiwan!” (Taiwan) and Singapore Press Holdings Limited “Singapore Blog Awards 2010” (Singapore)

Best Use of Screen Tablet Platform
Winner: ABS-CBN Publishing, Inc. “Metro Magazine iPad Edition” (Philippines)
Excellence Award: Trends Media Group “Special Issue of Trends Cosmopolitan for iPad” (China) and MediaCorp Pte. Ltd. “Style: magazine iPad application” (Singapore)

Best Use of Social Networks
Winner: U Magazine, HKET “Pursuing Social Power: U Magazine Facebook fanpage” (Hong Kong)
Excellence Award: Alphabet Media Pte. Ltd. “FutureGov Asia Pacific Magazine” (Singapore)

Best Use of Design, Layout and Presentation
Winner: MediaCorp Pte. Ltd. “ELLE Spring/Summer 2011 Trends booklet, March 2011” (Singapore)
Excellence Award: Technology Review India “(1) PHOTO ESSAY (2) DEMO” (India)

 

ASIAN BOOK PUBLISHING AWARDS

Best use of multimedia marketing by a book publisher

Winner: Commonwealth Publishing Company “You Can Make a Difference, Too” (Taiwan)
Excellence Awards: One Media Group Limited “Sammi Cheng – eBOOK” (Hong Kong) and HarperCollins Publishers India “The "Who is Johnny?" Campaign” (India)

Best book/Best writer on Asian Socio-Economic or Media scene

Winner: Paiboon Publishing “The Interpreter’s Journal” (Thailand)
Excellence Awards: Katha “Chouboli and Other Stories” (India) and Maverick House Publishers “A Secret History of the Bangkok Hilton by Chavoret Jaruboon and Pornchai Sereemongkonpol” (Thailand) 

 

ASIAN CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AWARDS

Innovative Corporate Communications in a Multi-media World

Winner: Hong Bao Media (Holdings) Pte. Ltd. “Cable & Wireless Worldwide Low Latency Networks” (Singapore)
Excellence Awards: Manila Water Company, Inc. “The Path of Pat Tubig: Water and Wastewater Trail Program” (Philippines) and Sirimedia Co., Ltd. “Andaman 365° Application on iPad in App Store” (Thailand)

The first Asian Fashion Photography Awards were also presented by SmarttPapers Aviation to the Winner Chuan Looi of Malaysia. Excellence Awards went to Chiang-Liang Hsiao of Taiwan and Bona Soertito of Indonesia.

ASIAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

A Lifetime Achievement Award was also given to Dr. Thanachai Theerapatvong for having been at the forefront of Thailand’s publishing industry for decades as a mover and shaker. Since his founding of The Nation Company, currently known as Nation Multimedia Group Limited, in 1976, Dr. Thanachai overcame numerous business obstacles and gained broad recognition from the publishing sector in both Thailand and abroad. In addition to his busy career life as Chairman of Nation Multimedia Group, Nation Egmont Edutainment Company and Yomiuri Information Company, Dr. Thanachai has contributed greatly to the development of the publishing world, education and society and is also currently the Honorary Chairman of Media Expertise International (Thailand). With the Lifetime Achievement Award, the organizers, sponsors and partners applauded Dr. Thanachai for his outstanding contribution in building a publishing conglomerate with print newspapers in English and Thai, magazines, radio and television.

By Daniela La Marca