The judges wrote:
A remarkably consistent newspaper — from its front page to its last – with a striking symmetry, it is nonetheless lavish in its creative use of illustration, photography and white space. Its obvious attention to detail is a strong foundation for the line it walks between tradition and daring.
This Sunday weekly newspaper makes creative and clever use of art to frame the reporting or break the frame with provocative concepts that enhance the journalism.
A single typeface might be monotonous in less creative hands, but in Welt am Sonntag it has character that serves the whole, boosting the overall unity of feeling from page to page. Similarly, white space is used uniformly and boldly on its pages.
It is clear that each story merits its own consideration in terms of its layout. It is easy to imagine that the newspaper’s planning meetings involve frequent references to pleasing the readers, helping them to understand and surprising them with design that has integrity as well as a sense of humor.
Its report on porn is a single example of the newspaper’s overall commitment to simplicity, wit and classic use of photography and white space that is echoed throughout its pages.
The Forum page is another example of how Welt am Sonntag designs pages common to all newspapers to turn the mundane into the stylish.
Read about the other World’s Best winners: Dagens Nyheter, Die Zeit, The Grid and The Guardian
Track 21 years of news design history: See all the winners from the general competition in the SND Competition Database
Society for News Design
Society for News Design