Voralberger Nachrichten wins innovation award

Posted by Julian Evans on June 7, 2006 at 1:58 PM

Voralberger Nachrichten, a local newspaper in the Austrian region of Voralberg, won the Media Innovation Award at the 13th annual World Editors Forum in Moscow. The award was decided and presented by the Innovation International Media Consulting Group.

The Consulting Group praised VN for its excellent website, its pioneering use of colour (it was the first paper in Europe to switch to full-colour) and above all its important role in the community life of the Voralberg region.

That role is shown by the fact that 70% of the internet users of the region visit the VN website, http://www.vol.at, at least once a day. Eugen Russ, owner of the paper, says: "We reach more people than Google."

“The local market is the key to our strategy,” said Russ. And you have to connect to the ordinary people, e.g. through bringing them in via the newspaper. People love to see themselves published. “One usually has two possibilities to be sure to appear in a newspaper: either you are the murderer or you are the victim,” Russ said. The Vorarlberger Nachrichten changed that: You can find all the baptisms, the weddings and party photos in the newspaper as well as in the online version.

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