Mediahuis brands took home three awards from the 2025 INMA Global Media Awards on Thursday. The prizes were announced at a ceremony in New York. The campaign Help Ukraine Now!, organised by Dagblad van het Noorden, Leeuwarder Courant, and Friesch Dagblad, won first prize in the ‘Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign’ category. The campaign raises funds to support the people of Ukraine and has raised more than €1.7 million in three years. Evert van Dijk, Director of Journalism at Mediahuis Nederland, Northern region, accepted the award in New York from Mediahuis CEO and INMA president, Gert Ysebaert.
“This award is a great recognition of our work. I sincerely hope other news media are inspired to take action as well. As journalists, we are independent, but that doesn’t mean we should sit on our hands when people need our help,” Evert van Dijk said.
Evert van Dijk receives the INMA award from Gert Ysebaert
In the category Best Idea to Grow Advertising Sales, Mediahuis received two awards. Mediahuis Ireland won second prize in the national brands segment for Reclick, a new way to enable retargeting with first-party data in a post-cookie world. Mediahuis Nederland, Northern region, won second prize in the same category (regional brands) with Uitgelicht, the visual, full-screen front page of the apps. Ads placed there generate three times more revenue than regular ads.
Several other Mediahuis entries received an honourable mention:
- Mediahuis Nederland, Northern region – Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement. The digital version of Dr. Denker, a classic print Christmas puzzle, has seen its active users grow by 139%, showing how print traditions can boost digital growth and engagement.
- Mediahuis Ireland – Best New Audio/Voice Product or Feature. The Irish Independent launched the successful sports podcast Indo Sport, reaching a new, younger audience.
- Mediahuis Nederland, Western 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 Nederland – Best Product Iteration. The Breaking Barriers campaign shows how a new paywall has led to more subscribers, more advertising revenue, and greater journalistic impact.
The INMA Global Media Awards are prestigious international prizes presented annually since 1937 by INMA, the International News Media Association. During the awards ceremony on Thursday 22 May, at the Edison Ballroom in New York, the winners were announced across 20 categories, divided into national and regional segments. These categories aim to highlight innovation and best practices in news brands, with a focus on optimising the use of media features, subscriptions, product development, advertising and commerce, artificial intelligence and newsroom innovation.
This year’s competition received 839 entries from 286 leading news brands in 49 countries.
