Hard News, Public Address Take Out Top Awards

Hard News, Public Address Take Out Top Awards

Friday night's Qantas Media Awards has capped off a remarkable month for the leading New Zealand group blog site, Public Address.

Hard News, the blog of Public Address founder Russell Brown, received the first award for "best blog" to be given as part of the Qantas Media Awards. The award, made by a judging panel, goes alongside another "best blog" award for Public Address in the People's Choice NetGuide Web Awards, which was made by public vote.

"As a working journalist in print and broadcast media, I'm particularly pleased to have received the first award given in the fresh territory of the blogosphere," says Russell Brown.

"The incorporation of internet categories in the Qantas awards this year wasn't just a recognition of the growing importance of online media, but a signal that the 'old' and 'new' media will co-exist and interact with each other."

Hard News began in 1991 as a Friday morning news commentary on Auckland radio station 95bFM, and was first distributed online, in both text and audio form, in 1993.

In 2003, Hard News was reinvented as a blog. It became the centrepiece of Public Address (publicaddress.net), which also features weblogs by David Slack, Tze Ming Mok, Keith Ng, Graham Reid, David Haywood, Fiona Rae, Jolisa Gracewood and various guests.

Late last year, Russell Brown and developers CactusLab unveiled a new community site, Public Address System, which hosts lively and intelligent discussions amongst the Public Address readership, along with podcasts from Public Address Radio (which airs at 2pm every Saturday on Radio Live), newsfeeds, and OurTube, a selection of new and interesting online video with a New Zealand flavour. The two sites attract between 6000 and 7000 visits daily.

Public Address also stages the Karajoz Great Blend, a series of innovative multimedia events in Auckland and Wellington, which have featured BBC new media chief Ashley Highfield, social networking researcher Danah Boyd and and the head of Google's open-source software programme, Chris Di Bona.

The two online awards aren't the only ones to come Russell's way recently: he was named best business columnist for the third year running in the 2007 Magazine Publishers' Association Awards.

"Public Address will continue to grow and evolve in the year to come," says Russell, "and the recognition provided by the Qantas and NetGuide awards will not only introduce us to new readers, but underline our credibility to advertisers. Hard News has been my personal brand for nearly 16 years, and Public Address is in its fourth year, but I feel like we've barely begun to explore the possibilities of this medium."

ENDS

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