Katachi takes top prize at Digital Magazine Awards

Katachi, an iPad-only lifestyle magazine, scooped three awards at the fourth Digital Magazine Awards in London yesterday including the top prize as 'magazine of the year'. It received the accolade for "pushing the boundaries of what is possible with a digital magazine", according to judges.

The quarterly magazine, which also won 'app of the year' and 'best lifestyle app' at the Society of Publication Designers awards in May, came top in the fashion and women's lifestyle categories as well as magazine of the year.

"We believe that if you create really compelling, really exciting and really beautiful content for the device, you are going to create an audience and following that is willing to pay for the product," Ken Olling, founder and creative director of Katachi Media, told Journalism.co.uk

Katachi Issue 3: Gold interactive iPad magazine cover from Katachi Mag on Vimeo.

Olling said the Katachi app is made using software for tablet publishing, Origami Engine, created by his company with app designers in mind. Using software designed for print or web is like "making a TV show with a set of tools made for radio", he said.

"We believe the content and conversation in digital publishing is that you need to put the effort in if you are going to expect readers to fork out the money," Olling added.

Future also had cause for celebration with four award wins. Edge and Computer Arts won their respective categories of 'specialist magazine' and 'visual magazine', while food publication Jamie Magazine won 'launch of the year (new format)' and Edge's Phil Haycraft was named 'designer of the year'.

"These awards are hotly contested and it is a real achievement for Future to walk away with four of the top honours and six commendations," said Mark Wood, Future's chief executive in a press release.

Esquire.co.uk took the award for 'magazine website of the year', judged on its style, content, effectiveness and innovation and described by judges as "class personified, representing the brand perfectly through great images, beautiful design and superb navigation".

The BBC also won four awards as Gillian Carter took the prize for 'editor of the year' for BBC Good Food, which won the food and drink category, and Simon Carrington was commended as 'publish/manager of the year' for BBC Top Gear, which took the prize for 'motoring magazine of the year'.

A full list of winners can be found on the Digital Magazine Awards website.

The awards ceremony came after an unconference held at the venue in the morning, in which attendees and finalists were encouraged to share their ideas across different fields of digital publishing.

"From a lot of the discussions, a lot of people think we need a way of representing the metrics and readerships as well as a voice and body that represents us," Bruce Hudson, founder and chairman of the Digital Magazine Awards, told Journalism.co.uk.

Hudson said attendance had "almost doubled" on previous years, a marker that was "a real sign that people are starting to move into and experiment in the sector".

Journalism.co.uk reported on a keynote speech at the awards from Dennis Publishing’s Rob Boynes, available here.

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