The winners of the 2019 INSP Awards have been revealed at the official Awards Ceremony, as part of the Global Street Paper Summit in Hannover, Germany.

Thirteen awards were presented, celebrating the best of street paper innovation and excellence around the world.

Slovenia’s Kralji Ulice, Czech Republic’s Nový Prostor and The Big Issue Australia were big winners on the night, each taking home two awards apiece.

Kralji Ulice and Nový Prostor are both first-time INSP Award winners.

Nový Prostor scooped the gongs for Best Project and Best Special Edition, while Kralji Ulice triumphed in Best Photograph as well as coming top of the public vote in the People’s Cover Award.

The Big Issue Australia won Best Special Edition too, in the first joint INSP Award win since 2013. They also took home the award for Best Vendor Contribution.

Elsewhere during the evening, Street Roots won their first ever INSP Award, for Best Cultural Feature. And The Curbside Chronicle picked up the INSP Special News Service Award, which we revealed they had won last week.

The Awards were hosted by local public speaker David Kräling, and attended by a jovial audience of Summit delegates and Awards judges.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Full List of Winners:

INSP Special News Service Award

WINNER: The Curbside Chronicle, USA

Ghost Bikes

Words by Whitley O’Connor
Photos by Henry Hargreaves

The most published story from the INSP News Service in 2018-19 was The Curbside Chronicle‘s photo story, ‘Ghost Bikes’. 14 street papers across 9 countries printed the piece based around poignant photography of white memorial bicycles laden with flowers, to mark the spots of cyclist fatalities and give an important message of road safety.

Best News Feature

WINNER: Megaphone, Canada

Last Rights

By Simon Cheung

Megaphone interviewed Dr Naheed Dosani, a healthcare practitioner working to bring palliative care to those living on the margins of society. The article explored the initiatives set up by Dosani and his colleagues, and discussed the difference it has made to the people they have helped. Judges were unanimous in their praise for the piece, and complimentary of its direct but respectful storytelling.

Best Cultural Feature

WINNER: Street Roots, USA

She Shreds: Ripping up the rulebook on female guitarists

By Ann-Derrick Gaillot

Fabi Renya is the editor of She Shreds, a ground-breaking magazine that is a revolutionary platform for female guitarists, an often overlooked demographic in the music industry. In an interview with Street Roots, Renya reflects on the magazine’s success and contemplates its future. Judges felt the feature was highly original, and offered a surprising take on the issue of gender equality.

Best Vendor Contribution

WINNER: The Big Issue Australia, Australia

The Happiness Project

By various The Big Issue Australia vendors

11 vendors from The Big Issue Australia were given disposable cameras and tasked with photographing the things, people and places that make them happiest, to celebrate #VendorWeek. Judges felt it was a creative and engaging way to give a voice to vendors to express themselves in a visual way.

Best Cover

WINNER: L’Itinéraire, Canada

This eye-catching L’Itinéraire cover fronted an edition focusing on love and sex. With its irreverent sexual imagery, the judging panel felt this cover would grab the attention of passers-by, and they enjoyed its creative take on a subject that’s challenging to depict on a magazine cover.

Best Design

WINNER: Mi Valedor, Mexico

Each issue of Mi Valedor revolves around a chosen theme, for which the layout and design, as well as the fonts and other aesthetic elements, are carefully selected. The panel described each edition as a work of art, with great care being taken to create a unique product each time, in keeping with the theme.

Best Photograph

WINNER: Kralji Ulice, Slovenia

Queen and Queen

By Sandra Požun

Sandra Požun’s image accompanied a poetry column to raise people’s awareness of the fight against prejudice and discrimination of same-sex couples. The judging panel commended the photograph for being well framed and described the image as being both distressing and intriguing in equal measure.

Best Special Edition

JOINT WINNER: Nový Prostor, Czech Republic

Nový Prostor‘s crossword special came about as a direct response to readers and vendors who were asking for more crosswords in each regular edition. Printed in A5 format in black and white (with a colour cover), the special was cheap and easy to produce, and generated impressive sales and additional income for vendors. Judges commended the publication’s reaction to popular demand, and called it a “quirky, complete package”.

JOINT WINNER: The Big Issue Australia, Australia

The Big Issue Australia‘s annual Fiction Edition is now in its 14th year, and is Australia’s biggest-selling fiction magazine. Entries are open to the public for story submissions, as well as commissioned pieces from local authors. Judges enjoyed the beautiful illustrations throughout the edition, and were impressed by the sales and income generation for vendors.

Best Project

WINNER: Nový Prostor, Czech Republic

Bonus Klub

Bonus Klub was a venture set up by Nový Prostor in 2018 for their top-performing vendors. If a vendor is following their personal selling plan and adhering to the code of conduct, they are able to join the Bonus Klub and ask readers for extra donations to help achieve special goals, such as new glasses or medication. Readers can donate and track the progress of the goals on Nový Prostor‘s website, and to date over 50 goals have been achieved, totalling around 250,000 CZK (£8,500) in pledges.

Best Campaign

WINNER: Faktum, Sweden

Faktum Kids

With an increase in the number of homeless children in Sweden, Faktum wanted to draw attention to this growing problem and give them a voice. They came up with Faktum Kids, a special edition of the magazine aimed at children (and their parents) with content exclusively about children without a home. They also produced a calendar, ran selling events with children in Gothenburg, and publicised the campaign using short films on social media, produced pro bono by a well-known Swedish ad agency.

Best Partnership

WINNER: Hus Forbi, Denmark

Welcome inside Fakta

Danish supermarket Fakta offered Hus Forbi the chance to become a donation recipient of their bottle dispensary scheme, where customers return plastic bottles and receive a pay-out or donate the cash to good causes. The money raised has allowed Hus Forbi to increase distribution support, reduce the cost price of the paper for vendors, and provide vendors with winter clothing. Vendors were also permitted to sell within Fakta’s stores.

People’s Cover Award

WINNER: Kralji Ulice, Slovenia

Out of the 25 covers that faced the public vote, Kralji Ulice was the paper to come out on top!

You can join the discussion on social media using #INSPAwards to see reactions to the winners.