Prothom Alo wins at the Global Media Awards for the fourth consecutive time

Prothom Alo has secured three wins at the Global Media Awards 2024. The awards were announced and presented yesterday, Thursday (25 April), at the at the Victoria and Albert Museum on London at the concluding session of the World Congress of News Media.

At the 'Global Media Awards 2024' organised by the International News Media Association (INMA), Prothom Alo secured second place in 'Best use of social media' category, third place in 'Best commerce product or service' category and honourable mention in 'Best idea to grow advertising sales' category.

At the 2021 event of this prestigious global event for news media including newspapers, television and, radio Prothom Alo won honourable mention. In 2022, Prothom Alo won first place and a second place award. In 2023 it secured a second place award and an honourable mention. This year there were applications from 771 initiatives of 245 media outlets including newspapers, magazines, digital media, television and radio from 43 countries.

INMA has been according this recognition to media platform since 1937. Google News Initiative is a sponsor of the Global Media Awards.

Prothom Alo wins Global Media Award for fourth consecutive time.

Meril-Prothom Alo on TikTok: Last year TikTok was added to the Meril-Prothom Alo award event campaign. Bangladesh's first in-app voting system was introduced, where fans could vote for their favourite stars by means of TikTok. Meril Prothom Alo Awards exploded on TikTok, setting new engagement records. Other than the voting, all aspects of this pinnacle film-industry related award event was covered for over a month on TikTok. In this span of time, there were 47,000 posts by readers with around 410 million views. The campaign, 'Meril Prothom Alo Awards Explode on TikTok, Setting New Engagement Records', won the second prize for this in the 'Best use of social media' category'.

Dr Jesmin Zaman, marketing head of Square Toiletries Ltd, co-organiser of the Meril-Prothom Alo Awards, said, "The Meril-Prothom Alo Awards is reaching 25 years. It is great to receive this international recognition before the 25th event. This award has always been a symbol of the excellence in Bangladesh's entertainment world. The use of TikTok had given the campaign a new dimension. This year too, from the first week of May onwards, fans can vote for their favourite stars. We invite our readers and viewers to come to the TikTok platform and join the award process by casting their votes."

Securing first place in this category was Poland's lead news media Wyborcza and third place, Peru's El Comercio. The Honourable mention went to Sweden's Expressen and Norway's VG.

Last September for the second time prothomalo.com organised the fair 'Online TV Mela 2023'. A total of 12 television brands displayed and sold their products through this week-long virtual fair. Visitors could look up the various TV brands, prices, offers, reviews and more, sitting in the comfort of their homes.

Prothom Alo's 'Online TV Mela' won third place in the category 'Best commerce product or service'. Clinching first place in this category was Brazil's Exame and second place, Norway's VG. Honourable mention went to South Africa's Media24 and Ireland's Mediahuis.

Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, speaking about receiving this award, said, "From the very beginning Prothom Alo has taken up various innovative initiatives to keep connected with the readers. At this juncture of global transformation of the media, a versatility has been added to these initiatives. We receive positive response from the readers for these initiatives. Such an award gives us encouragement."

On 23 and 24 July the 'GPH Steel-Prothom Alo University Admission Fest 2023' was organised, presenting students and their guardians with all sorts of university admission related information. This two-day festival took place at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre  in Agargaon of the capital. This event provides information for under-grad and post-grad studies as well as information in higher studies overseas. A total of 45 institutions took part in the  event, including 34 universities, British Council, EMK Centre and more.

Prothom Alo won honourable mention for this initiative in the category for 'Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales'. Securing first place in this category was Sweden's top media platform Bonnier News, second place India's Jagran Prakashan and third place, UK's News UK, Reach, Guardian and Telegraph for a joint campaign. Alongside Prothom Alo, honourable mention in this category also went to New Zealand's NZME.

This year a 60-member jury panel from 23 countries  judged the 771 entries submitted for the Global Media Awards. A total of 193 finalises were selected in 20 categories from which the final awards were accorded for innovation and best practices in news brands, optimising the use of media features, subscriptions, product, advertising and commerce, Artificial Intelligence, and newsroom innovation.

Finland's Helsingin Sanomat won the 'Best in Show' at the 2024 Global Media Awards. 'Best in South Asia' went to India's India Today for its 'AI-led newsroom transformation' project.

“The 2024 Global Media Awards really highlighted how news media companies must think beyond the traditional to connect with their readers in this era of disruption and news avoidance,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “Unsurprisingly, this class of winning entries features some of the most innovative we’ve seen. We’re so proud of all our finalists.”

Last month Prothom Alo bagged four awards at the South Asian Digital Media Award of another international media organisation WAN-INFRA. At the award event held on 14 March in Delhi, India, Prothom Alo won two silvers, a bronze and an honourable mention. Over the past four years, Prothom Alo has consecutively won 13 prizes at the South Asian Digital Media Awards.