On Thursday evening, the winners of the 2025 INMA Global Media Awards were announced. Evert van Dijk, director of journalism at Mediahuis Nederland region North, accepted the award in New York from Mediahuis CEO and INMA president Gert Ysebaert. The reader campaign Help Ukraine Now! won first prize in the category ‘Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign’. The campaign, organized by Dagblad van het Noorden, Leeuwarder Courant, and Friesch Dagblad, raises money to help the people of Ukraine. In three years, the campaign has raised over €1.7 million.
“This award is a wonderful recognition of our work. I sincerely hope that other news media will be inspired to take action as well. As journalists, we are independent, but that does not mean we should sit idly by when people need our help,” said Evert van Dijk.
Mediahuis even won two awards in the category “Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales.” Mediahuis Ireland received second prize in this category (national brands) for “Reclick,” a new way to enable retargeting with first-party data in the post-cookie world. Mediahuis Nederland regio Noord came second in the same category (regional brands) with ‘Uitgelicht’, the visual, full-screen front page of the apps. The advertisements placed there generate three times as much revenue as regular advertisements.
A number of other Mediahuis entries just missed out on the prizes, but did receive an ‘honorable mention’.
- Mediahuis Nederland region North, Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement. The digital version of Denker, a classic paper Christmas puzzle, shows how print traditions can strengthen digital growth and engagement, with 139% more active users.
- Mediahuis Ireland, Best New Audio/Voice Product or Feature. The Irish Independent launched the successful sports podcast ‘Indo Sport’, reaching a new, younger target group.
- Mediahuis Netherlands West Region, Best Product Iteration. The ‘Being Ikea and Beating the Kitchen Memo Effect’ campaign focuses on a mobile-first experience to improve reader engagement and subscription conversions, with great success.
- Mediahuis Netherlands, Best Product Iteration. The ‘Breaking Barriers’ campaign demonstrates how a new paywall generates more subscribers, more advertising revenue, and greater journalistic impact.
The INMA Global Media Awards are prestigious international awards that have been presented by the International News Media Association (INMA) since 1937. During the awards ceremony on Thursday, May 22, at the Edison Ballroom in New York, the winners were announced in 20 categories, divided into national and regional segments. These categories focus on highlighting innovation and best practices within news brands, with an emphasis on the optimal use of media opportunities, subscriptions, product development, advertising and commerce, artificial intelligence, and editorial innovation. In 2025, the competition received 839 entries from 286 leading news brands in 49 countries.
