SND40 judging closes with National Geographic Best in Show

  • February 28, 2019
Society for News Design

The 40th Best of News Design Creative Competition awarded 16 gold medals, 40 silver medals, three judges’ special recognition, and 819 awards of excellence after three days of judging at the Coliseum in St. Petersburg.

After reviewing 4,831 entries, all 22 judges gathered to discuss the gold medal winners to decide whether to elevate one to Best in Show. After a spirited debate, National Geographic’s extensive print and digital packages for “Katie’s New Face” took the prize.

Awards by Publication

These are the publications that won the most awards:

  1. The New York Times
  2. The Washington Post
  3. Star Tribune
  4. Los Angeles Times
  5. National Geographic
  6. South China Morning Post
  7. Politico Europe
  8. The Buffalo News
  9. The Globe and Mail
  10. Memphis Business Journal

Gold Medals

  • The New York Times’s special report on “The Plot to Subvert an Election”
  • The New York Times’s special report on “The ISIS Files”
  • The New York Times’ coverage of the special counsels’ investigation into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia
  • The New York Times’ poignant portraits of Nigerian schoolgirls who were previously abducted by Boko Haram for “The Girls Brought Back”
  • The New York Times’ mapping of six major U.S. cities in “Where We Live”
  • The New York Times’ combined print and digital presentation of “Augmented Reality: Four of the Best Olympics”
  • The New York Times’ staff photography portfolio
  • The New York Times Magazine’s photo series “Great Performers”
  • The New York Times Magazine’s excerpt “If You Were Me” from “The Mars Room” in features pages
  • National Geographic’s combined print and digital presentation of “Katie’s New Face” about young woman’s face transplant
  • National Geographic’s photo story for “Katie’s New Face”
  • Star Tribune’s combined print and digital presentation pf “Denied Justice: When rape is reported and nothing happens”
  • Star Tribune’s “Denied Justice” special report in special news topics
  • Dagens Nyheter’s photograph of a wheelchair bodybuilder
  • South China Morning Post’s inside page graphic “Safe skies”
  • EME for overall magazine design

Silver Medals

  • The New York Times’ special coverage “Trump engaged in suspect tax scheme as he reaped riches”
  • The New York Times’ spread of the Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram
  • The New York Times’ portrait of an abducted Nigerian schoolgirl
  • The New York Times’ photo page design of the Nigerian schoolgirls
  • The New York Times for Kids sections
  • The New York Times’ photo of a severely malnourished child caught in the Saudi Arabian war in Yemen
  • The New York Times’ combined print and digital presentation of eight Thanksgiving pies
  • The New York Times’ special coverage of climate change
  • The New York Times’ staff combination portfolio
  • Wayne Kamidoi’s individual news portfolio from The New York Times
  • Wayne Kamidoi’s individual combination portfolio from The New York Times
  • The New York Times’ “Past Tense California” section
  • The New York Times Magazine’s photo series on the process of manufacturing pencils “Fine Lines”
  • The New York Times Magazine’s hypnotic cover illustration capturing the feeling of psychedelic drugs “The Trip Doctors”
  • The New York Times Magazine’s cover “Is Google Too Powerful?”
  • The New York Times Magazine’s “Love City” covers
  • National Geographic’s cover “Planet or Plastic”
  • National Geographic Traveler’s combined print and digital presentation of an illustrated journey through the Galapagos
  • The Washington Post’s coverage of the Stanley Cup champions
  • The Washington Post’s photo series “The New Arctic Frontier”
  • The Washington Post’s Stanley Cup book “Worth the Wait”
  • The Washington Post’s staff sports portfolio
  • The Washington Post Magazine’s combined print and digital presentation of their alternate storytelling issue
  • Dagens Nyheter’s photo of a sunken mosque after an earthquake in Palu, Indonesia, was followed by three tsunamis
  • Dagens Nyheter’s Förintelsen special section
  • Time magazine’s opioids issue
  • Time magazine’s cover “Guns in America”
  • Bild am Sonntag’s breaking news coverage of the rescue operation for the soccer team in Thailand
  • Los Angeles Times’ coverage of catastrophic wildfires
  • Die Zeit’s photo page design that asks recent refugees to Germany, “What is the most German object you have?”
  • Der Tagesspiegel’s wraparound celebrating gay pride
  • Superinteressante’s graphic exploring the sound of different instruments
  • An American artist’s takeover of a complete edition of Die Welt
  • Verdens Gang’s combined print and digital presentation of a rape victim’s story
  • La Nacion’s combined print and digital presentation of “The Notebook of Bribes”
  • Star Tribune’s special report “Denied justice: When rape is reported and nothing happens”
  • South China Morning Post’s “Home economics” graphic
  • Memphis Business Journal’s special coverage of the MLK anniversary
  • NRC Handelsblad’s special section “Carnivores!”
  • Mono for overall magazine design

Judges’ Special Recognition

  • South China Morning Post’s graphics portfolio for risk-taking experimentation
  • The New York Times for Kids for engaging, sophisticated journalism for kids
  • The New York Times for use of special reports to serve the public good

The database of winners will go live on the website within the first two weeks of March.