Channel 4 News wins four Online Media Awards

Above: members of the award-winning Channel 4 News online team

The website won the best editor, digital writer, technical innovation and best use of social media awards at the event in central London on Wednesday night.

Anna Doble (pictured above, far left) won the online editor of the year after leading the online team through a series of initiatives including #WT4 and #c4newspopup.

Vining Russell Brand is harder than it looks! Anna Doble

Technology Producer Geoff White who fronted the Data Baby special report (as well as blogging on everything from state spying to cyber hacks) won the digital writer of the year trophy.

And it was not the first award for Data Baby as the project, created by Geoff and Online Producer Meabh Ritchie, picked up the prize for technical innovation as well.

“What a brilliant night,” said Anna. “I am especially proud of our #Datababy Rebecca Taylor who, despite being a figment of our imaginations, won a very real prize for technical innovation.

“Geoff White and Meabh Ritchie have blown me away with their constant, clever and creative approach to this cross platform project: demonstrating how our online identities have a life of their own.

Above: Anna Doble accepts the online editor award

“It was wonderful also to see Geoff win an individual award for best digital writer. His blogs tackle very complex tech issues by straightforwardly hammering home what it all means for our daily lives.”

Channel 4 News also took home the accolade for best use of social media for a range of initiatives including Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson’s quest to reunite a family divided by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Above: Channel 4 News through social media

The award was also for the online team’s innovative use of YouTube, Instagram and Vine and the #c4newspopup and #WT4 projects.

“Winning the trophy for best use of social media for the second year running made me very proud of an amazing news team. The entry was led by Alex Thomson’s moving reunion of a family in the Philippines after last year’s typhoon. He and his team did it by following up on a single tweet,” said Anna Doble.

“Special mention must go to Jennifer Rigby who inspires the whole newsroom daily to use social media in the most engaging, valuable and fun ways. Vining Russell Brand is harder than it looks!

Above: Alex Thomson reunites a family divided by Typhoon Haiyan

“Thanks finally to the fantastic Channel 4 News web team who work their Twitter fingers to the bone, daily. Finally, being named online editor of the year is a bit bonkers and extremely flattering. I’ll have been at ITN for 10 years in a fortnight. I read my first radio bulletin for IRN in 2004. I had one mic and two faders. I knew how to hit ‘record’ on a Marantz. No-one had Facebook. At home I had a word processor with no internet. So this is progress. We’ve come a long way, baby!”

Channel 4 News was also commended in the blogging and video categories.

The other big winner on the night was theguardian.com, which won five awards including website of the year (which was last year won by Channel 4 News).

Other winners included BBC News, the Financial Times and Vice.

The four awards follow Channel 4 News sweeping the board with five awards at last year’s event.