Mail & Guardian Online scoops 3 Webby Award Honours

Hot on the heels of winning Blog of the Year at the SA Blog Awards, Thought Leader has been named an official honoree by the Webby Awards, alongside blogs by CNN, CBS News, The New Yorker, CNBC, The New York Times, TIME and the Observer Media Group.  This puts Thought Leader in the top 15 political blogs in the world and the only blog in its category from Africa.

News In Photos, the M&G Online photo portal was named official honoree in both the Newspaper category and the Best Use of Photography categories, alongside The Globe and Mail, The New York Observer, LA Times, Las Vegas Sun, Ogilvy Singapore, 360 Cities, Rolex and more.

“”We are honoured to have received recognition for the hard work that has gone into creating Thought Leader and News in Photos. It is gratifying to be listed in the same company as some of the world’s great brands like New York Times, Washingtonpost.com, CNBC and CBS and others,” said Matthew Buckland, M&G Online GM.

Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, AKQA Global Creative Director Rei Inamoto, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.

The 12th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states. Out more than 10,000 entries submitted, fewer than 15% received this honor and were deemed Official Honorees.

The M&G Online team have put a lot of effort and work into these projects, as have all our Thought Leader contributors, and this kind of recognition makes it all seem worth it but, further than that, it helps put South Africa on the map as a producer of quality web applications.  Special thanks, from my side, go to Matthew Buckland and Riaan Wolmarans for endless energy, ideas and support.  This has been a great team effort and it just goes to show what can be done when you don’t mind taking some risks.