[Update] On 19 November 2013, SENATUS has won the title of "No.1 Magazine Website in Asia" once again at the 2013 Asian Digital Media Awards (ADMAs) held on 13 November, in 1 of the 2 most hotly-contested and coveted accolades at the regional media event, alongside the Best Newspaper Website category.

[Update] On 28 November 2012, SENATUS Bags Silver at the 2012 Asian Digital Media Awards, becoming the only magazine to medal twice in the three year old competition

SENATUS wins the Gold Award in the Best in Online Media (Magazine) category at the Asian Digital Media Awards, emerging best in entries across Asia-Pacific and Middle East.

SINGAPORE November 24th 2010 -- The first Asian Digital Media Awards, organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) were presented to the winners at Zouk's Velvet Underground.

The awards showcase how cutting edge media organisations are currently using the most advanced Digital Media platforms for syndicating and monetizing newspapers, magazines, broadcasters or books (or “other print”) content.

Asian Digital Media Awards

Nominees for this competition were chosen based on strong compelling content with quality and integrity, and had also to demonstrate consistency through online interactivity with users, evidence of the publishing company’s commitment to running the service and offering value to readers and advertisers.

Innovative design, the use of multimedia technology (such as audio, video, podcast, graphics, photography etc) enhancing the art of visual storytelling online, ease of navigation, speed of downloads and the site’s overall organization were key aspects that were taken into consideration.

The competition was open to all publishers in Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Digital Media Landscape in 2010

2010 has been an intense year on the digital media front. Traditional news media companies are counter attacking Google and the online pure players. Pay walls have been erected around the World Wide Web and conclusions can already be drawn from these pioneer experiences. Broadsheet and tabloid news publishers are finding synergies online, while internet-only news outlets are gaining significant foothold in the media landscape.

Just as the mobile industry was about to break the symbolic 5 billion subscribers barrier, Apple yet again changed the rules of the game with the launch of its much anticipated iPad tablet! Competitors are hot on its heels and a handful of new devices are expected to be available to consumers before the end of this year.

A Win for SENATUS, the "new magazine on the block"

SENATUS was the recipient of the Gold award at the Digital Asia Media Awards in the Best in Online Media (Magazine) category. Emerging best in entries across Asia-Pacific and Middle East, which included companies from countries ranging from India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, UAE and more.

For SENATUS, this win affirms its position as the best Online Magazine originating from Asia in only its first year of operations. Launched in 2009, SENATUS is an online magazine covering luxury and lifestyle topics, complemented with an exclusive social network with membership by invitation only.

"I'd like to thank WAN-IFRA for organizing these awards and the esteemed panel of judges for the giving us this accolade. As a startup and a pure-play online magazine, we have had to work hard to build awareness of our brand from scratch. Given the enormous 'noise' on the Internet, it was definitely a challenge getting readers first interested, then loyal. Through sheer hard work and determination,  I'm glad the fruits of labour are paying off!" says Kien M. Lee, Managing Director and Founder of SENATUS. "We look to build upon the momentum of our initial success and to continue to fine-tune and improve our editorial quality and grow our readership by utilizing the digital channel effectively and efficiently."

The magazine has taken advantage of social media with a hugely popular following on Facebook of 60,000 fans. "We utilize this channel to communicate with our membership as well as distribute our content, which allows our exposure to increase multi-fold through our fans recommending our content to their friends," explains Kien.

"I recognized the great work done by the team at SENATUS and had enthusiastically invited Kien and his company to join us at MPAS," said Frank Cintamani, President of the Magazine Publishers Association of Singapore. "This win by a Singapore-based publisher reinforces the need for our collective magazine industry to leverage on the explosion in the digital media space to grow our business."

SENATUS is also a private network with all members given a limited number of invitations to invite selected friends to join. The company provides privileges to its exclusive membership, including access to special events.

"We look to facilitate members to more easily identify like-minded individuals who share similar interests, be it a passion to save the earth, a taste for fine art or haute couture, or even a love for design or writing" says Kien of the vision of the SENATUS social network.

Going forward, Kien explains that SENATUS will look to grow its readership regionally and globally, identify key partners to work with on joint initiatives as well as continue to produce innovative online branding solutions for advertisers.

Find out who the winners are in all categories here: Asian Digital Media Awards 2010 by WAN-IFRA

About WAN-IFRA

World Association of Newspapers and News Publisher, "WAN-IFRA" (www.wan-ifra.org), based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

About the Digital Media Asia Conference
The event, organized by WAN-IFRA and hosted by Singapore Press Holdings, features some of the world's most successful media companies in the digital realm: The Wall Street Journal, Nikkei (Japan), VG (Norway), The Nation (Thailand), Mid Day (India), The South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), the Financial Times, Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and many more.