DC Thomson receives five nominations at the 2024 ACE NMAs
DC Thomson has been shortlisted across five categories at the 2024 Newspaper and Magazine Awards (ACE NMAs).
The NMAs allow the publishing industry to come together, showcase and celebrate the many success stories that have emerged in the last 12 months.
2023 was a year of considerable change within DC Thomson as it re-shaped and re-focused, transforming with real ambition to set the business up for long-term success. Now in 2024, the company’s newspaper, magazine and Puzzler newsstand teams have been shortlisted for five categories in the 2024 Newspaper and Magazine Awards (ACE NMAs).
The newsstand team have implemented a series of transformative initiatives aimed at driving collaboration, harnessing data intelligence, and enhancing engagement with its diverse audience base. By fostering inclusivity and creativity, DC Thomson has laid the foundation for a new era of success in the fiercely competitive publishing landscape and as a result, received nominations in the ACE NMAs.
DC Thomson is nominated for ‘Newsstand Team of the Year’, an award that recognises the team that has demonstrated consistently high performance and delivered great results across campaigns, challenges, initiatives, projects, or strategies.
The Press & Journal, Evening Express and The Courier have all been shortlisted in the category, ‘Newspaper Newsstand Campaign of the Year’. This award is for a newspaper that has excelled in engaging with its audience and added genuine value to the market. Both The Press & Journal and The Courier continue to be two of the strongest performing regional titles in the UK with a real connection to their local communities.
The Press & Journal has been nominated for First Class/Last Class campaign which aims to capture and celebrate the significant milestones of thousands of Primary 1 and Primary 7 students across the entire North of Scotland. These campaigns feature a mix of self-submitted and professionally taken photos, while The Courier has been recognised for Draw Your Mum/Draw Your Dad our heartwarming initiative to engage local schoolchildren in celebrating Mother’s Day and Father’s Day which received an incredible 11,200 drawings for the Courier, and Evening Express for Pounds For Primaries/Christmas Concerts. In its 54th year, the December 2023 edition of the Evening Express Christmas Concert featured over 700 performers from 24 schools and community groups, marking a significant expansion of their annual event. With two shows drawing a combined audience of 2,300, the concerts raised over £20,000 in ticket sales and donations for Pounds for Primaries Campaign in January 2024.
The Press & Journal has also been shortlisted in the Regional Publication Of The Year category. The P&J team decided to mark their 275th year with commitment to communities across the north of Scotland. As the highest-selling regional title in the UK mainland, The Press and Journal has a dual responsibility as a trusted source for business, farming, and fishing news while being the voice of families and communities in a vast circulation area and ensured every marketing campaign met these values.
Beano is nominated for Magazine Newsstand Campaign of The Year. Launched in 1938, Beano celebrated its 85th anniversary in July 2023, cementing its position as the world’s longest running weekly comic. To celebrate this amazing milestone, Beano’s team developed a summer-long campaign focussed on the special birthday edition of the comic. The comic was crammed full of kids’ favourite celebrities and a special wraparound cover featuring the likes of The King & Queen, Harry Styles and Ant & Dec. It was also supported by the biggest Beano retail marketing campaign in years with vibrant and colourful point-of-sale materials, creating theatre and standing-out in stores across the country.
The Puzzler KIDS COLLECTION has been nominated for Newsstand Magazine of The Year – Children’s. Originating in the nineties as Quiz Kids, this magazine has been a beloved choice among youngsters for nearly three decades. However, recognising the need for evolution, the team behind it took a bold step by initiating comprehensive changes. They revamped the content entirely, introduced additional puzzles, improved the paper quality, enlarged the format, and replaced the previously used plastic-coated neon pencil with a natural wood alternative. In its inaugural year, the Puzzler KIDS COLLECTION has captured 57% of the kids’ puzzle market, marking a significant milestone for a magazine that was relatively unknown when it first hit the shelves in early 2023.
Neil Mackland, head of newspaper sales and marketing, said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted in a number of categories at the NMAs this year. It’s particularly gratifying to see our collaborative efforts highlighted, as the DC Thomson newsstand team’s combined entry for Team of the Year showcased the exceptional teamwork and synergy across our newspapers, magazine, and Puzzler teams.
“As a small but multitalented team, we feed into various aspects of the business including editorial, advertising, radio, events and production, helping to make numerous projects a reality.
“We’re up against some stiff competition but the campaigns from our brands received massive reader engagement, thousands of new customers and generated huge revenue for our commercial team. Congratulations to all the nominees and everyone who helped get us nominated!”
The awards ceremony takes place on May 22nd 2024 at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London.
The full shortlist is available here.