Hall of Fame

Magazines, Start Your Innovation Engines

Say what you will about the tribulations of print, but the past year has been a watershed period for magazine brands. This year’s Best of the Web Award winners and honorable mentions demonstrated how firmly publishers have learned not only to grasp but to lead digital innovation.

User-generated content was all the rage, and such publications as Cosmopolitan, with its Fun Fearless Female campaign, shaped that energy into a gorgeous marketing package. The next wave of “post-Web” Internet devices washed ashore, and Sports Illustrated’s signature swimsuit issue exploded in the digital universe.

And when the iPad arrived, Popular Science, Style.com and Entertainment Weekly—to name a few—were ready to meet the challenge. Our Best of the Web Award honorees did not merely react to changing technology—they drove innovation.

We also honor this year’s inductees in min’s Digital Hall of Fame—these five innovators have been prime movers in the migration of magazine brands to the digital realm. We celebrated them, and all of the Best of the Web Award finalists, at a breakfast event at New York’s Grand Hyatt on April 7, 2011.

View pdf of the special Best of the Web Issue

View pictures from min's Best of the Web Awards

View On-site interviews with honorees and Keynote Speaker Randall Rothenberg

Read event coverage from min's Digital Media Editor, Steve Smith

Digital Hall of Fame

• Robert Faletra, CEO, Everything Channel - View Video
• Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Editor-in-Chief, Parenting.com - View Video
• Brandon Holley, Editor-in-Chief, Lucky - View Video
• Sean Nolan, VP/GM, Rodale Digital
• Vivek Shah, CEO, Ziff Davis

Digital Teams of the Year

• Bonnier R&D - View Video
• Condé Nast Studio
• Nation’s Restaurant News – Penton Media
• Parade – Parade Digital - View Video
• Vogue.com
• TheWeek.com

Advertiser Program/Partnership

Better Homes and Gardens/American Patchwork & Quilting 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge

Honorable Mentions:

• The Atlantic – The Local Leaders with Big Responsibility Program
• Entertainment Weekly – Buick & Must List 360 Sponsorship
• Condé Nast – W Fashion on Film
• IDG Communications – Dell Take Your Own Path
• MensFitness.com – US Navy
• PEOPLE.com – “Sprint Screening Room”

Blog

Edmunds.com – Inside Line’s Long Term Road Test

Honorable Mentions:

• Bonnier Corporation – Field & Stream’s The Gun Nut
• CNNMoney.com – Paul La Monica, The Buzz
• Discover Magazine – Bad Astronomy: Blogging the Universe
• Entertainment Weekly – EW.com's PopWatch
• The Parenting Group – Show & Tell, the Parenting.com Editor's Blog

Community/Social Networking

Cosmopolitan – Global Fun Fearless Female

Honorable Mentions:

• CafeMom – CafeMom.com, Serving Up Happier Moms
• Condé Nast – Brides.com on Facebook
• Entertainment Weekly – EW on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Live Blogs
• Reader's Digest Association Inc. – Taste of Home pushes for 100,000 Facebook fans and gets so many more

Contest/Online Games

	InStyle.com – InStyle.com’s Instant Stylist

Honorable Mentions:

• Condé Nast – Brides.com 's Love Truck
• Meredith Corporation – Mad for Plaid: A Classic Cookbook Gets a Web Blitz
• Shape – Hot, Healthy Bartender

Design

	Vogue – Vogue.com

Honorable Mentions:

• Condé Nast – Brides.com's Love Truck
• The Fiscal Times – www.thefiscaltimes.com
• PEOPLE – PEOPLE.com

Digital Magazine

	Popular Science – Popular Science+ - View Video

Honorable Mentions:

• Bonnier – TWSnow+, the new iPad app from Transworld Snowboarding - View Video
• Edmunds.com – Inside Line - View Video
• Network World (IDG) – Network World Optimized Digital Edition - View Video
• SAE International – 2011 Chevrolet Volt Development Story – Inside GM's New Extended-Range Electric Car and Its Technologies
• Teradata Magazine Online

Editorial Excellence – Overall

	The Atlantic – TheAtlantic.com

• The Slate Group – The Root
• Smart & Strong – POZ.com
• Sports Illustrated – SI.com
• Time Inc. – Time.com
• WIRED – Wired.com

Editorial Excellence – Special Section

	Style.com (Fairchild Fashion Group / Condé Nast Digital) - The Future Of Fashion

Honorable Mentions:

• AARP The Magazine – Remembered: The Alzheimer's Photography Project
• Condé Nast – Concierge.com's "10 Things Not to Do in..." Feature Series
• Farm Journal Media – AgWebWeekend Market Report
• National Association of Realtors – HouseLogic’s Foreclosure Resources Guide
• Sports Illustrated – SI.com NFL Section

Email Newsletter: Consumer

	Parents.com – 100 Days of Holidays

Honorable Mentions:

• Condé Nast – Concierge.com UNPACKED: Daily dispatches for smart travelers
• Food & Wine – The Dish and Wine List
• Garden & Gun – Talk of the South

Email Newsletter: B2B

	Advanstar Communications- dvm360 Full Circle

Honorable Mentions:

• Crain Communications/Autonews.com – Finance & Insurance Report
• IEEE Spectrum – Robotics News
• TMG Custom Media – JCK News Daily

Guides/Reviews

	Consumer Reports – ConsumerReports.org

Honorable Mention:

• Edmunds.com – Road Tests and Reviews

Integration with Print

	Condé Nast – Chase Ultimate Rewards

• Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel – Budget Travel's World's Best Packer
• Hearst Digital Media – Esquire, The Music Issue
• Hearst Digital Media – Seventeen's Freshman 15
• InStyle.com – InStyle.com and InStyle's Foursquare Initiative
• Shape – 2010 SHAPE of Beauty Awards
• Travel + Leisure – TravelandLeisure.com

Job Board

	Adicio – CareerCast.com

• Crain Communications – Automotive News Career Center

Marketing Campaign

Cosmopolitan – Global Fun Fearless Female

Honorable Mentions:

• Condé Nast – Brides.com's Love Truck
• PEOPLE – Fans Crown The "Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook"
• One Motoring – 10th Anniversary Celebrations

Microsite/Custom Website

	Sports Illustrated – SI.com/Swimsuit

Honorable Mentions:

• CNNMoney.com – MONEY’s Best Places to Live
• Farm Journal Media – Farm Journal Legacy Project
• Women’s Health – Look Better Naked

New Site

	The Fiscal Times – www.thefiscaltimes.com

Honorable Mentions:

• New Hope Natural Media – NewHope360.com
• Focus Research, Inc. – Focus.com
• TMG Custom Media – Hemaware.org
• Ziff Davis Enterprises Inc. – eWEEK Labs

Overall Digital Excellence

	The Slate Group – Slate

Honorable Mentions:

• Consumer Reports – ConsumerReports.org
• PEOPLE – PEOPLE Digital
• Rodale Inc. – Men’s Health

Premium Content

	Pensions & Investments – P&I Research Center

Honorable Mentions:

• Rodale Inc. – Men’s Health
• Ward’s Automotive Group – WardsAuto.com

Redesign

	Vanity Fair – Vanityfair.com

Honorable Mentions:

• AICPA – The New AICPA.org
• TMG Custom Media – WashingtonFlyer.com

Relaunch: Consumer

	TheWeek – TheWeek.com

Honorable Mentions:

• Condé Nast – Brides.com
• Hearst Digital Media – Seventeen.com
• Parade – Parade Digital
• Spafax Canada – enroute.aircanada.com
• Vogue – Vogue.com

Relaunch: B2B

	UBM Electronics – EBN

• Crain Communications – InvestmentNews
• Farm Journal Media – AgWeb.com
• Penton Media Inc. – NRN.com

Smartphone App

	New York Media – MenuPages

Honorable Mentions:

• About.com – Calorie Count
• Condé Nast – Traveler Gold List
• Financial Times
• The Parenting Group – Parenting's Ages & Stages
• Rodale Inc – Men’s Health
• Vanity Fair – Hollywood Trivia

Tablet App

	Popular Science – Popular Science+ (Co-winner) Style.com (Fairchild Fashion Group/Condé Nast Digital) (Co-winner)

• Condé Nast – Epicurious.com
• Entertainment Weekly Magazine – The Must List
• Financial Times

Use of Photography

	Sports Illustrated – SI.com

• Vanity Fair – VanityFair.com

Use of Social Media

	The Parenting Group – Reaching Moms Through Social Media

• IDG Enterprise – CIO Forum on LinkedIn
• PEOPLE – PEOPLE Digital
• Prevention – Prevention.com’s Live Chat Event Series
• Time Inc. – InStyle.com & Van Cleef & Arpels
• Time Inc. – TIME Twitter Account

Video: Magazine-Branded Show

	Bonnier Corporation – Field & Stream’s Hook Shots

• Competitor Group, Inc. – TriCenter
• Crain Communications – Automotive News TV
• Ladies’ Home Journal/Meredith Corporation – Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Overall Use of Video

	Hearst Digital Media – Esquire.com (Co-winner) Style.com (Fairchild Fashion Group/Condé Nast Digital) (Co-winner)

• Condé Nast – Brides.com's Love Truck
• WMagazine.com
• PEOPLE – PEOPLE TV: Celebrities Worth Watching
• Radio Free Asia
• Sports Illustrated – SI.com
• TMG Custom Media – CDW EdTech

Virtual Trade Show/Online Event

	UBM Studios – Everything Channel's COMDEXvirtual

Honorable Mention:

• Globalspec