Category 1: The Connected Life Awards
1e. Best Mobile Publishing Product or Service
The Best Mobile Innovation for Publishing award aims to highlight the rapid evolution of the printed word to digital media on mobile handsets and tablet devices e.g. books, magazines, newspapers, journals, manuals, directories, text books and other materials.
Recognising innovation in mobile formats by digital publishing companies, entrants should demonstrate how their brands brand fit into the mobile medium, specifically how mobile published products have increased value, accessibility or convenience for users and brought exciting new levels of interactivity, such as video, social interaction. Entries should also show how they make use of mobility in terms of the device and connected anywhere services, as well as how they have been developed with a viable and sustainable business model underpinning them. Judges will consider entries from mobile websites and mobile devices including tablet/eReader apps.
The shortlist will be published by the GSMA in January 2013, and one winner in each category will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday 26th February 2013.
Eligibility:
This award is open to digital publishing and media organisations, academic institutions, app developers, and content owners/providers that provide digital media and information for mobile devices & tablets.
This category is for commercially available products, devices, applications or services or products/apps/ services that have been launched and are available in at least one market by the awards entry deadline of Friday 30th November 2012.
Please provide evidence in your entry to support this such as launch date or trial start date, including details of countries, regions and app stores/ online destinations here the product application/service is available.
Judging criteria
In this category, the judges are looking for mobile publishing solutions that enable brands to easily and effectively mobilise their content – developing and launching products that push the boundaries of the convenient access and interactivity. This obviously includes solutions for tablet devices, but is not restricted to them; any publishing solutions that are made for any mobile device can enter.
This award welcomes entries from product, mobile and community sites, which demonstrate evidence of creativity and originality, understanding of the market and commercial success. Entrants should make clear how they measure success against objectives.
The judges will be looking at how well entries meet the key criteria, as follows:
- Innovation – in terms of published media functionality, interactivity, technology, business models and user /market potential
- Creativity – in terms of presentation and functionality
- Usability: How simple/easy is it to use?
- Mass market or (deliberate) Niche market strategy and how it has been implemented
- Evidence of target user take up and market success within 2011/2012
Entry forms, supporting materials & formats:
This year, the submission of video to support your entry/entries is very positively encouraged. You may provide one URL to a video link demonstrating your entry. This should be either privately or publicly posted to YouTube (if a private post, please provide a user name and password for judges to access). The video should be between three and five minutes in length, but no more.
If pointing judges to a website within your entry, please incude one website URL, where specific information relating to your product/device/application/service entry can be found easily (judges will not surf websites looking for the information).
The on-line entry form includes an upload facility for you to provide multi-media. You will have the ability to upload five additional files to accompany your entry up to a maximum file size of 5MB each. These can be illustration PDF for app screen shots for example, JPEG for photos or PowerPoint for diagrams or statistics, but please keep these relevant to your entry and keep the pages to a maximum of two.
Specific Entry Form Questions:
On the entry form, in addition to submitting contact and company information, you will be asked to answer the following questions, (Please note the maximum text/character length for your answers including spaces are shown in brackets below):
Preview of entry form questions:
- What is the brand or name of your publication or portfolio of mPublishing products/services/apps? Please note the name given here will be used in all awards publicity. (150 characters = approx 25 words)
- Is this a joint entry? If so, who are the partnering organisations? (150 characters = approx 25 words)
- Please describe as simply as possible, the nature of the product/products and the user proposition i.e. What is it? How is it accessed? (directly on-line or through app stores?) How does it work? What need is it intended to fulfil? Please describe it as accurately as possible (500 characters = approx 85 words)
- When was the product/ app / service launched and in which markets, if in market trials please state, when, where and scale of the trials? (500 characters = approx 85 words)
- Please describe what you regard as innovative about the product/ app/ service? (1,500 characters = approx 250 words)
- What is the business model and the market potential you foresee? (1,500 characters = approx 250 words)
- What makes it simple to use and compelling as an mPublishing proposition for the market? (1500 characters = approx 250 words)
- What elements of the product/app/service make it convenient in terms of mobility? (1,500 characters = approx 250 words)
- Please provide evidence of user take up since launch, or trial results? (1,500 characters = approx 250 words)
Please note: Use one URL that is specific and relevant to the category and will help judges further understand your entry, but due to the number of entries received, judges will not have time to surf company websites looking for further information on the entered product/service or initiative.
