Hip Media, contract publishers of the Drinks stable of publications on behalf of the Liquor Merchants Association of Australia (LMAA), has taken out the coveted ‘Small Publisher of the Year’ award at the Publishers Australia Excellence Awards 2010.
Publishers Australia, an association for small business publishers organise the awards, who also announced at the lunch a new partnership with Magazine Publishers Australia, to represent the $2 billion digital and magazine industry in Australia.
At the awards, Hip Media also made another outstanding achievement by scooping the award for ‘Special Edition of the Year’ for its inaugural edition of the 2009 Drinks Yearbook, produced for the LMAA.
Further recognition for Hip Media was given to its art director, Evelyn Rueda, for achieving a ‘Highly Commended’ acknowledgment in the category of Designer of the Year – Custom, for her work on Barfly magazine for Suntory Australia and Premier magazine for Constellation Wines Australia, and also ‘Highly Commended’ in the category of Designer of the Year – B2B for her work on Drinks Trade magazine.
“We are all absolutely delighted to receive this award in just the fifth year for HIP Media. The award is testament to the quality and hard work of the team that look after the differing requirements of some of the leaders in drinks industry communications” said Ashley Pini, director and founder of Hip Media.
The award is recognition of not only Hip Media’s management, but progressive growth, of a number of publication offerings for its clients, at a time when the expansion of digital and social media, along with weakened economies, have threatened the traditional publishing industry and put many out of business.
“I congratulate HIP Media for winning ‘Small Publisher of the Year’ – it is very well deserved,” said Sandra Przibilla, managing director of LMAA. “The LMAA looks forward to the continual evolution of our publications.”
