The Society for News Design, which celebrates visual journalism, has awarded us their top prize for the second year in a row.
We can hardly believe it happened again. For the second year in a row, The Grid has been named the world’s best-designed newspaper for our circulation size by the Society for News Design.
Founded in 1979, the Society recognizes excellence in visual journalism, and we’re deeply honoured that they like us so much. Out of 9,300 global entries, The Grid won 3 silvers out of only 36 awarded. The win is also kind of historic: we won both world’s best-designed newspaper and were awarded the only silver in the best overall magazine design category (they don’t award a world’s best in that category).
Here’s what the panel of judges had to say:
The Grid is the perfect reflection of the community it lives in. We would describe its personality in six words: FUN, intelligent, bold, authentic, sophisticated, and young.
The consistency from page to page and week to week is just staggering. And yet the staff finds ways to reinvent their formula each week. They’re able to seamlessly shift gears between numerous storytelling formats and devices, always delivering a smarter edited experience.
The Grid’s young and energetic color palette not only ties the publication together but also is based on press limitations, sticking with pure cyan, magenta and yellow.
The Grid really connects with its audience by including their voices and opinions, opening a window on the people and reflecting their life in Toronto. We are jealous of the readers who get to read this publication each week. It’s addictive.
Ambitious photo shoots like the food trucks are evidence of a mighty tabloid making big things happen. Food pages display real, authentic dishes you want to eat.
Clever asides, bonus elements and hidden gems reward you for spending time with The Grid. Nice touches include mini-map locaters, hypertext explanations in the margins, clever thumbnail graphics, and fun little points of interest. They might be fun, but they’re not decorative gimmicks; they’re storytelling elements.
The Grid has excellent stories to start with, but the designers have the ability to take those stories to new levels.
The Grid boldly plays with its brand in subtle but fearless ways. As an example, the cover about “Toronto’s Hardest-Working Dogs” nails the concept by changing its logo to read “THE GRRID.” Seeing this cover made us all smile and imagine how much fun their brainstorming sessions and work environment must be.
The Grid feels ahead of its time when many newspapers lack freshness. It knows exactly what the readers need and expect, and it goes deep in the search for stories.
We must say that if a publication wants to be the best in the world, it would do well to remember the rich value and high IQ of The Grid.
You can read more about our win, and the other winners, right here.
