Judging for SND’s Best of Digital Design competition wrapped up on Feb. 8, and all awards tallies are complete. World’s Best finalists will be announced Monday, Feb. 10, and the Best of Show in Mobile Storytelling winner will be announced in the next few days.
Full results can be found at snd.org/bodd, and make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to see silver and gold medal winners along with judges’ comments.
For a full overview of how the judging process works, read this Q&A.
The Society for News Design is proud to announce results from its Best of Digital Design contest, which started in 2002 and is part of the 41st edition of the news design creative competition. SND invited 14 judges from across the United States and around the globe to review 1,315 entries (a record number) during three days of judging at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies campus in Washington, D.C. More than 100 organizations from 26 countries entered the competition.
The digital design competition uniquely honors journalistic, visual and technical excellence for work produced in 2019. Winners will be celebrated at The Society’s annual workshop in Washington D.C. in April, where The World’s Best-Designed™ will also be announced.
World’s Best Designed
Each year, the highest goal of this competition is to identify work that has fundamentally shifted or improved how news and information is delivered across digital platforms. This award has been given to websites and apps, but also to overall experiences or organizations.
The SND World’s Best digital competition was judged by Shazna Nessa (The Wall Street Journal), Darren Long (South China Morning Post), Scott Klein (ProPublica) and Renate Rognan (NRK). To ensure a fair competition, SND bars judges from participating in any way with their own organization’s entries.
The World’s Best-Designed™ winner will be announced at The Society’s annual workshop in D.C. in April.
The World’s Best Designed finalists are:
- Bureau of Investigative Journalism
- New York Magazine
- Pop-Up Magazine and California Sunday Magazine
- New York Times Cooking
- The Guardian’s Membership Experience Design
- The Washington Post
- Vox’s video explainers
- South China Morning Post’s Information Graphics
To read the judges’ comments in full, visit snd.org/bodd
Best in Show for Mobile Storytelling
First Place: “Self-driving cars: Who to save, who to sacrifice” from Radio-Canada
Runner-up: “The UFC’s 22 Hall of Fame moments” from ESPN
To read the judges’ comments in full, visit snd.org/bodd
Awards of Excellence Winners
Recognizes outstanding and excellent visual storytelling. These entries go beyond mere technical or aesthetic competency and may push the boundaries of originality and creativity.
For full results visit snd.org/bodd.
Total: 392
2. Story Page Design: 100
3. Information Graphics: 86
4. Format: 119
5. Line of coverage: 27
6. Product design: 12
7. Experimental design: 5
8. Portfolio: 43
Bronze medal winners
Recognizes visual storytelling at the leading edge of craftsmanship or innovation. These entries should demonstrate technical mastery, aesthetic mastery, or both. Entries receiving a Bronze Medal must have an elevated level of execution, originality or degree of difficulty.
For full results visit snd.org/bodd.
Total: 92
2. Story Page Design: 26
3. Information Graphics: 17
4. Format: 28
5. Line of coverage: 4
6. Product design: 2
7. Experimental design: 2
8. Portfolio: 13
Silver medal winners
The aesthetic and technical proficiency of these entries should stretch the limits of the medium — representing an elevated level of execution and originality in pursuit of powerful storytelling. It should be nearly impossible to find anything deficient.
- Silver Medal to ABC Australia for its piece “The Amazon Race”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for its piece “Notre-Dame’s Toxic Fallout”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for its piece “A Tidal Wave of Mud”
- Silver Medal to Globo for its piece “Os Movimentos de Simone Biles”
- Silver Medal to ESPN for its piece “The UFC’s 22 Hall of Fame moments”
- Silver Medal to ESPN for its piece “The ticket challenge”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for its piece “12 million phones, one dataset, zero privacy”
- Silver Medal to the Wall Street Journal for its piece “How to profit in space: A visual guide”
- Silver Medal to Science Mag for “Setting the table”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for “The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for “Apollo 11. As they shot it.”
- Silver Medal to DR for “The tattoos of the King – recreated”
- Silver Medal to the South China Morning Post for “How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA”
- Silver Medal to TASS Russian News Agency for “Poltava, Carl!”
- Silver Medal to TASS Russian News Agency for “The Bestiary”
- Silver Medal to Upstatement for “Climate Knowledge”
- Silver Medal to USA Today for “Can you step in for a US goalkeeper? Test your skill saving penalty kicks”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for “Apollo 11. As They Shot It”
- Silver Medal to ESPN for “Assemble your All-Star Team”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for “Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy”
- Silver Medal to La Nacion for “In photos: the Lionas, the inclusive hockey team”
- Silver Medal to Reuters for “Mass Movement”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for “18 Questions. 21 Democrats. Here’s What They Said.”
- Silver Medal to McClatchy and Propublica for “‘I felt like a dog.’ On suicide watch for days in a California jail”
- Silver Medal to McClatchy for “Explaining PTSD”
- Silver Medal to Zhejiang Daily Press Group for “A freshman in the World Cultural Heritage Class” (must be viewed on a phone)
- Silver Medal to The Lily for “The Jessicas are turning 30”
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for their mobile app design
- Silver Medal to Rebecca Pazos at The Straits Times for Story Page Design Individual Portfolio
- Silver Medal to Alyssa Karla Mungcal at The Straits Times for Story Page Design Individual Portfolio
- Silver Medal to The New York Times for Story Page Design Organizational Portfolio
- Silver Medal to Megan McCrink at POLITICO for Art Direction Individual Portfolio
- Silver Medal to Amanda Soto at The Washington Post for Art Direction Individual Portfolio
- Silver Medal to Jan Diehm at The Pudding for Combination Individual Portfolio
- Silver Medal to Quartz for Art Direction Organizational Portfolio
For full results visit snd.org/bodd.
Total: 36
2. Story Page Design: 9
3. Information Graphics: 3
4. Format: 13
5. Line of coverage: 1
6. Product design: 1
7. Experimental design: 2
8. Portfolio: 7
Gold medal winners
Visual storytelling that defines the state of the art. These entries must stretch the limits of creativity both visually and technically. They must be groundbreaking in both form and fit — telling their story in the most powerful way imaginable. It should be perfect or as near as one can reasonably come. Any entry receiving this award should be held up as the gold standard for the design community.
The New York Times: Notre-Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew. This is how it was saved.
The New York Times: What Do Rally Playlists Say About the Candidates?
Globo: The movements of Simone Biles
For full results visit snd.org/bodd.
Total: 3
2. Story Page Design: 0
3. Information Graphics: 1
4. Format: 2
5. Line of coverage: 0
6. Product design: 0
7. Experimental design: 0
8. Portfolio: 0
Judging takeaways
We sat down with the judges for the Best of Digital Design competition and talked to them about the judging process. To read about what the judges had to say about the process, what work stood out to them and trends they hope to see more of, visit snd.org/bodd.
Meet the Judges
A team of 14 judges was selected by the Digital Design Competition Committee to evaluate each entry on how well it accomplishes its editorial and design objectives. SND strives for diversity in judges, who are are journalism, new media and design experts from around the world. If judges have any apparent conflicts of interest on particular entries, they will not be assigned to evaluate those entries.
For full bios, visit snd.org/bodd.
News
- Jeremy CF Lin, Bloomberg
- Libby Bawcombe, NPR
- Martin Frobisher, Tampa Bay Times
Graphics
- Jan Diehm, Pudding
- Simon Scarr, Reuters
- Kennedy Elliott, National Geographic
Conflict
- Monica Ulmanu, The Washington Post
- Renate Rognan, NRK
Features
- Sohail Al-Jamea, McClatchy
- Tiffany Middleton, ESPN
- Umi Syam, NYT
World’s Best
- Shazna Nessa, Wall Street Journal
- Darren Long, SCMP
- Scott Klein, ProPublica
Facilitators and Volunteers
This year the Competition Committee was expanded to include 11 people from newsrooms across the country. The committee works on a variety of tasks, including choosing judges and deciding the categories of entry.
There are also over a dozen volunteers to help keep things running smoothly, handling everything from social media to helping facilitate to dealing with logistics.
The Competition Committee includes: Ryan Sparrow, Ball State University and SND Executive Committee Programs representative; Anna Boone, Star Tribune Digital Designer; Heather Donahue, ESPN.com Creative Director; Jeremy Gilbert, Washington Post Director of Strategic Initiatives; Brian Gross, Washington Post Deputy Design Director; Stephanie Hays, Seattle Times Designer; Yue Qiu, Bloomberg Graphics Team Leader; Marianne Seregi, National Geographic Design Director.
Additional support: Matt Callahan, Washington Post Design Editor; Mary Freda, The Times of Northwest Indiana Reporter; Aviva Loeb, Washington Post Digital Designer; Sisi Wei, ProPublica Assistant Managing Editor
Volunteers include: Courtney Kan, The Washington Post; Megan McCrink, Politico; John Muyskens, The Washington Post; Sandi Owatverot, National Geographic; Clare Ramirez, The Washington Post; Stephanie Redding, Washington Business Journal; Harry Stevens, The Washington Post; Hannah Tak, National Geographic; and Julia Terbrock, Washington City Paper.
For more information, check out these frequently asked questions.
Where We’re Located
This year, judging will take place at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies in the heart of Washington D.C. The school offers marketing and communications programs for individuals looking to build or hone their digital and communications skills.
Results by publication
We will attempt to update which organizations have the most awards each day, along with their overall tallies.
Recap of SND40
Last year 13 judges reviewed almost 1,300 entries from around the world. They awarded 408 Bronze Medals, 36 Silver Medals and 5 Gold Medals.
The World’s Best-Designed™ winner was Reuters. Finalists included The Globe and Mail (Canada), The Lily (United States), The Marshall Project (United States), The New York Times (United States), The Pudding (United States).
For all of last year’s results, visit snd.org/bodd.
Photos by Stephanie Hays | SND Best of Digital Design Competition Committee