Times of Oman has made the Sultanate and the whole of the GCC proud. Flashing proudly its stunning look, the newspaper has lifted 36 highly prestigious SND awards at the 32nd edition of the Best of News Design conducted every year by the Society for News Design - an international organisation for news media professionals and visual communicators, specifically those who create print/web/mobile publications and products. Bagging 36 awards, Times of Oman, lovingly called Times, stands tall as the second-biggest winner of the international competition this year after Los Angeles Times, beating comfortably some of the global media behemoths including The Washington Post, National Post, Politiken, The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and the regional newspapers The National and Gulf News.
The outstanding achievement has catapulted Times of Oman in the big league of the Top Five newspapers in the world in terms of look and design. "This is a fantastic recognition - a great feat of our design team, of our editorial team, our newspaper, and our country. Instantly, we have put Oman in the global spotlight. I truly believe that a great country deserves a good newspaper. And this is just the beginning. We shall continue to do amazing work for our readers," said Ahmed Essa Al Zedjali, CEO, Muscat Press and Publishing House. It was out of a total entry of 10,515 from 38 countries across the world and 831 winners, Times of Oman stood tall as the second-best newspaper. It was incidentally the first time that any newspaper from Oman took part in the competition and hit the jackpot on its maiden entry. Newspapers from Iran, Pakistan, and South Korea too were first-time participants to the competition. If eighties and nineties were decades during which content of daily newspapers was revolutionised, the last and the current decade have been laying stress on design and presentation.
Look of daily newspapers and periodicals matters as much as the editorial content, if not more. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Times redefined and underlined the growing importance of design and look in publications, especially daily newspapers. Times has traditionally been hailed for its impeccable editorial content and now it has an international award-winning look as well. The cumulative effect is stunning, that has made Times of Oman a true reflection of the changing times in Oman.
