ANN's e-publication on tsunami wins gold medal
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ASIA NEWS NETWORK'S editorial collaboration on the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami has won a gold medal at the 6th Digital Media Awards in Hong Kong.
“Ocean’s Fury: Are We Ready” was presented and submitted by The Straits Times of Singapore, which collaborated on the project with five other newspapers: The Jakarta Post, The Island from Sri Lanka, The Nation and The Nation’s affiliate the Phuket Gazette and The Star of Malaysia.
Ocean’s Fury won gold in the Best Data Visualisation Project category. Up to 100 articles and hundreds of photos and graphics were produced under the joint editorial to mark the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Fifty writers, photographers, designers, artists and editors were involved.
The tsunami, the result of a massive earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004, killed more than 230,000 people across 14 countries.
For Ocean’s Fury, each newspaper, working as an ANN team, did reports for print editions and websites. The content was edited by The Star.
An e-book was especially put together by The Straits Times’ digital team, which also won the most coveted category at the awards, Best News Website. It beat 19 other entries.
“The tsunami was a disaster that hit people all round the region. When tragedy struck, the way the people of the region responded brought them closer together. So it was fitting that a project to commemorate those collaborative efforts should be done collectively by ANN partners,” said Warren Fernandez, editor of The Straits Times and a member of the Asia News Network board.
“It took some effort to get everyone together, but I am glad we did. The award shows just what we can achieve together,” said Pana Janviroj, executive director of Asia News Network and president of The Nation.
Fernandez said Asia News Network initiated Ocean’s Fury last year to not only recount what happened, but to see if the promises to help rebuild communities and lives had been delivered on.
“We also wanted to ponder the lessons that might have been learned from the traumatic experience,” he said.
For the cross-media special, the reporting team went back to some of the worst-affected towns, visited survivors and spoke to relief personnel and volunteers about their experiences.
Editors and graphic designers delved into the science of the tsunami and the workings of the early warning systems set up to detect tsunamis.
Together they produced a series of interactive graphics. One of them, a 3D animation, showed readers how tectonic movements resulted in the tsunami while an interactive timeline showed readers how the waves spread. There were also photo essays and video clips.
These were packaged into a five-chapter e-book and a special microsite, which can be viewed here: http://graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/2014/oceans-fury/index.html.
Founded in 1999, ANN is an alliance of 22 media organisations in 19 Asian countries. Click the link below to see other wins by The Straits Times http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/the-straits-times-11-wins-at-asian-digital-media-awards-heres-a-look-at-the-winning-works
