World Media Group Announces Management Restructure, Extends Awards Deadline

The World Media Group, a strategic alliance of the world’s leading international publications, announced a new structure of its management team today, appointing two vice presidents to support Emma Winchurch-Beale in her role of World Media Group President. Alexandra Delamain, SVP Head of Sales and Client Services, EMEA for The Economist and Stephen Murphy, Global Brand Director for National Geographic, take on the additional roles of VP World Media Group, effective immediately. Winchurch-Beale, International Sales Director at the Washington Post, is the first World Media Group president to continue in the role for a second year. 

The new management team is pleased to announce that the entry deadline for the 2018 World Media Awards (WMAs), the only awards to celebrate the best in cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising, has been extended to Thursday 1st February.

The free-to-enter awards are now in their third year and offer the winners the opportunity to be acknowledged as global leaders in international content-led advertising. The WMAs are unique in not only giving recognition of the category winners' work through the trophy on the night, but by also celebrating all winning campaigns in a world-wide advertising campaign valued at €500k. The winners' ad campaign runs across leading international media brands Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Newsweek, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post - all members of the World Media Group which runs the WMAs.

Emma Winchurch-Beale, President of the World Media Group and International Sales Director at the Washington Post commented, "I’m delighted to be continuing my role as Group President and I’m looking forward to working closely with Alexandra and Stephen to continue the important work of the World Media Group in promoting and supporting quality journalism. 

“As we approach the 2018 World Media Awards, we are hoping to see an increase in entries from all over the world. Now more than ever, it’s important to celebrate the richness and quality that can be achieved when content is used effectively to tell a brand's story across multiple channels and borders. We’ve extended the deadline to encourage even more entries from all over the world, and we’re looking forward to seeing a diverse range of campaigns, which I’m sure will surprise and inspire us once again.”

Winning entries at the 2017 WMAs included Grand Prix Winners, Tata Motors, along with Shell, UBS, Bet365, Universal Pictures and Visit Faroe Islands.

How to enter: Entry to the WMAs at www.wm-awards.com is totally free, although entrants can make a voluntary donation to Reporters Without Borders. All categories can be entered by advertisers and their media, PR and creative agencies while media owners are only permitted to enter two categories directly: Media & Entertainment and Brand/Media Partnership. Campaigns must have intentionally targeted audiences in at least four countries and 75% of activity needs to have been implemented in 2017. There is no requirement for campaigns to have run in any of the World Media Group brands. The new closing date for entries is Thursday 1st February 2018.

Judging: To reflect the vital importance of collaboration in creating successful international, content-driven advertising campaigns, the independent jury will number over 20 heavy-weight judges from brands, agencies and media owners and is presided over by four Co-Heads: John Rudaizky, Partner, Global Brand & Marketing Leader at EY, Jodie Stranger, CEO UK Group & President Global Clients EMEA at Starcom, Publicis Media, John Gittings, Chief Strategy Officer, Americas, at MediaCom and Arif Durrani, Executive Editor for Europe, Middle East & Africa at Bloomberg Media Group. The full list of judges can be seen here. 

Categories: This year there are eight Award categories and a Grand Prix selected by the jury from amongst the category winners, as follows:

-Financial Services

-Travel & Tourism

-Technology and Telecoms

-Lifestyle, Luxury & Fashion (new)

-Automotive

-Corporate Influencer

-Media & Entertainment

-Brand/Media Partnership (new)

The new Brand/Media Partnership category recognises that, when brand and media owners work together on content initiatives, special campaigns, events, or other partnership-based promotions, the effective uplift for both brands can be powerful.

Awards event: The winners of the Awards will be announced at the exclusive World Media Awards Reception at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 22nd March 2018. All shortlisted entrants will receive two free tickets to join the celebration as guests of the World Media Group, and additional tickets will be available for purchase.