The World Young Reader Prize in the Newspapers in Education (NIE) category went to the Patriot News (Pennsylvania)for a project that engaged families in NIE programmes.

 The prize in the Public Service category was awarded to Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland, for a youth-oriented campaign that helped stop highway construction in the Rospuda Valley, a rich bio-diverse river valley of Poland. The paper also won a jury commendation for a multi-platform project promoting the Polish language that included a reader-generated dictionary.

WAN awarded other jury commendations and special mention awards to newspapers in Bulgaria (Borba), Brazil (Zero Hora), Namibia (Republikein), Russia (Delovoy Peterburg),  Spain (Diario de Navarra), Venezuela (Urbe) and the United States (Denver News Agency and the New York Daily News).

Here is what they did

EL SALVADOR

Newspaper: La Prensa Grafica

Circulation: 110,000

Award: Editorial Strategy (Winner) and World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year

What they did: Began a move toward a ”Total Youth Think” approach by first holding a retreat with young readers, then changing the whole newspaper for a day based on their suggestions. The paper has since integrated consideration of young people into core editorial decisions even as it expanded its content and special services for the young.

BRAZIL

Newspaper: Zero Hora

Circulation: 180,000

Award: Editorial Strategy (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Created special summaries of stories called “For Your Child To Read” to help children understand regular news coverage.

RUSSIA

Newspaper: Delovoy Peterburg (circ. 23 500)

Award: Editorial Strategy (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Launched a multi-platform project of blogs, workshops, a special section, internet support, videos, networks and lots more to help build loyalty among young people who wanted to succeed in business.

USA

Awards go to papers in Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania

Newspaper: The Patriot News (Pennsylvania) average circ. 107 140

Award: Newspapers in Education (Winner)

What they did: Established Famlly Literacy Nights to develop student literacy levels and increase NiE home deliveries. The paper provided parents with home care of infants so they and their other children have a hot meal together at the paper at the paper and do that encouraged reading.

Newspaper: New York Daily News (New York) average circ. 687 827

Award: Editorial Strategy (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Partnered with Children’s PressLine to produce “BackTalk”, a column that allowed youth journalists 8- to 18-years-old to hold politicians and community leaders accountable for young people’s quality-of-life issues. The point: The young cannot vote, but don’t underestimate their willingness to engage the powerful -- and get results.

Newspaper: Denver News Agency (Colorado), publishes Denver Post, circ. 255,449; Rocky Mountain News, circ. 255,426

Award: Editorial Strategy (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Created a chlld-friendly, web-safe community journalism site for 8- to 13- year-olds that is supported by training for youth reporters.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza wins two public service prizes

Circulation: 442 000

Award: Public Service (Winner)

What they did: Focused on young people it its multi-media national campaign to save Poland's rich, bio-diverse Rospuda Valley from an expressway. The effort galvanized Poland's population by reaching them through multiple platforms, allowing citizens to serve as reporters on the issue and even holding a rock concert.

Award: Public Service (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Created a language project, “Polish can be hot,” featured a wide array of activities and a collection of 13 Polish dictionaries sold with the newspaper, the last of which was generated by young readers and their teachers, and edited by the newspaper's language expert.

NAMIBIA

Newspaper: Republikein (circ. 21 000)

Award: Public Service (Jury Commendation)

What they did: Used excess newsprint  to produce  Etameko  “scrapbooks” of blank pages for writing and drawing and partnered with a local grocery store distribute one million of them to schools in rural and disadvantaged areas around the country.

VENEZUELA

Newspaper: Urbe (Cadena Capriles), circ. 50 000

Award: Brand (Jury Commendation)

What they did:  Established a youth culture award project, “Had you ever seen a green dog?,”  that let readers 18- to

25-years-old vote in categories such as music, film and even tattoo artists for an awards ceremony and party in which winners received a green dog statue as a trophy.

SPAIN

Newspaper: Diario de Navarra (circ. 58 538)

Award: Brand (Special Mention)

What they did: Changed the children's page into a daily set of challenges called “Lee y Gana (Read and Win),” that

guided young readers and their parents through the paper in a fun way.

BULGARIA

Newspaper: Borba (circ. 9 000)

Award: Special Encouragement Award

What they did: Dedicated four full-color pages each week to showcase the work of children and present a child-friendly review of the week’s news. The award recognized the clear commitment of the staff with judges predicting big things to come for this paper.