ST bags 5 golds, 2 silvers at Digital Media Awards Asia

The thousands of Taylor Swift fans who descended on the Singapore Sports Hub during her Eras Tour in Singapore in March 2024 were able to get a taste of the concert high in February of the same year by collecting nine posters with hand-drawn illustrations that mark the 35-year-old pop queen's music eras.

- Zachary Lim

On April 23, this project won The Straits Times the gold award for Best in Audience Engagement at the 17th edition of the Digital Media Awards Asia, which was presented at a ceremony at the Pullman Kuala Lumpur City Centre hotel in Malaysia.

The annual awards are organised by the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra) to recognise publishers that have adopted digital media and mobile strategies.

The brainchild of ST correspondent Yamini Chinnuswamy and executive artist Billy Ker, each of the nine posters represents one album or a music era — in the singer's record-breaking Eras Tour from 2008's Fearless through to Midnights from 2022.

The hand-drawn illustrations and photographs match the aesthetic of each era, packed with information such as factoids, achievements and news from that period.

The nine posters come together to form a composite image of the singer.

"From the very beginning, we wanted to create a must-have piece of memorabilia for fans," said Mr Ker, 36, who was the creative genius behind the work.

"Each piece needs to capture the unique aesthetic and spirit of Swift's respective albums, or musical eras, while still functioning as a compelling standalone design.

"When pieced together, the nine posters also have to form a visually coherent narrative that told the full story of Swift's evolving career," he said.

The winning project saw an increase in print sales of the English-language daily by more than 8,000 copies over the nine days it ran, and over 4,000 downloads of the soft copies of the nine posters.

This was made possible with social media marketing, including a TikTok contest, to engage readers of ST, said Ms Chinnuswamy, 37.

"In the era of the rapidly developing news cycle, it's very heartening to see that a journalistic project can resonate in such a long-term and personal way with readers," she added.