Al Jazeera wins Webby for online magazine

Channel’s iPad magazine wins People’s Voice Award for Best News tablet in Mobile Apps category, with 40 percent of vote.

Al Jazeera iPad Magazine
The Webby awards were set up in 1996 and are seen by many as the online equivalent of the Oscars

Al Jazeera English online magazine has won the Webby People’s Voice Award for the Best News (Tablet), in the Mobile Apps category.

With more than 40 percent of the vote, the digital magazine beat off the New York Times, Tech Crunch, Mashable and the Sunday Times, and will be honoured at a ceremony in New York on May 22.

The awards for 2013 saw internet voters around the world choose the winners, setting a Webby Awards record with votes from more than 200 countries and territories.

Welcoming the award, William Thorne, Acting Head of Online at Al Jazeera English, said: “The monthly digital magazines allow us to bring together the best of Al Jazeera’s news and programmes in themes such as the environment, the US elections and Afghanistan.

“In the few months it’s been around, the feedback we’ve had is that we’ve packaged it in a beautiful and navigationally innovative manner. We’re really grateful to everyone who voted for the magazine to win, it’s a big honour.”

Moeed Ahmed, Head of New Media at Al Jazeera Network, said: “The award shows how great content coupled with digital innovation wins audiences.

“Al Jazeera is leading the way in digital innovation and the People’s Webby Award highlights what we have achieved.”

This is the second time the Al Jazeera Network has won a Webby People’s Voice Award, after The Stream won the Webby People’s Voice Award for “News and Politics: Series” in the online film and video category in 2012.

Other awards went to the BBC for their Olympics coverage, Google Maps for their iOS navigation tools, and the New Yorker for the best writing editorial site, along with Mars Curiosity Rover, Charlize Theron and Red Bull Stratos.

The Webby Awards had more than 10,000 entries again this year, making them the leading international awards honouring websites and web programming.

The Webby awards were set up in 1996 and are voted on by a body of web experts, seen by many as the online equivalent of the Oscars. Judges this year included Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone, Arianna Huffington and Instagram creator Kevin Systrom.

Al Jazeera English Online Magazine is available to download on: http://aje.me/magazine

For more information on Al Jazeera English Online Magazine: http://aje.me/ZM4J88

Source: Al Jazeera