Best Designed Newspapers in the World

By: Nu Yang

Five newspapers representing four countries were recently named the World’s Best Designed Newspapers as part of the Society of News Design’s 33rd annual World’s Best-Designed News competition.

The winners are Excelsior (Mexico City, Mexico), National Post (Toronto, Canada), Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Frankfurt, Germany), The Grid (Toronto, Canada), and Politiken (Copenhagen, Denmark). The publications were chosen from 230 entries from 39 countries.

Papers were judged on writing, visual storytelling, use of resources, execution, photography, illustrations, graphics, headlines, and the paper’s “voice.” Each entrant submitted five complete issues from five different months of the year.

Excelsior won for the first time with “sophisticated typography, bold color palette, and overall visual energy.”

The Post celebrated its third win. Judges said, “(The Post) lures its readers in with a sultry beauty and then captivates them with an authoritative attitude that makes this Canadian daily a must-read.”

FAS was commended for its “excellent photojournalism, vibrant illustrations, and clear, direct information graphics,” while The Grid surprised judges with “sparse but great inside photography on full spreads.”

A previous winner in this category, Politiken once again wowed judges with its “thoughtfulness to the cropping and editing of photographs with designers using full width of pages for impact.”