Earlier this week we walked down the virtual red carpet to watch the 2020 Nichee Awards. While the ceremony may have seemed a little different than years past, this was our biggest Nichee Awards EVER!
Biggest Nichees Ever!
To cover all the top themes in the niche magazine world, we expanded this year to 26 categories. But that’s not the only thing that got bigger – we grew our entries by nearly 4x our yearly average! Our team received over 140 entries from magazines spanning the United States and publishers across the globe.
We also stepped things up and brought in a brand new panel of judges. Syracuse University’s Newhouse School – focusing on journalism and communication – partnered with us to take on this prestigious role. With how steep the competition was, we are so glad we weren’t the ones trying to decide the winners!
A Niche Takeover
Taking home a slew of wins, VegNews was a powerhouse to beat! The team at VegNews has created a phenomenal product. They consistently deliver high quality content each month to their readers passionate about living a meat-free lifestyle.
Their wins in Best Consumer Magazine, Best Social Media Ecosystem, Best Niche Media Company, and others, prove the power of a total niche takeover. VegNews has grown from a small lifestyle magazine started by 2 passionate vegetarians in 2000, to a nationally-read, independent multimedia company with a thriving collection of websites, social media platforms, cookbooks, international vacation programs, and a flagship publication that started it all. VegNews now reaches 3 million readers each month.
Know Your Niche
But this wasn’t the only big success of the day. A publication that just launched in April 2019, Luckbox Magazine, took home the win for Best Magazine Launch and Best B2B Magazine. The team at Luckbox Magazine pride their magazine on being the only in-print publication focused on entrepreneurs, active investors, and risk-takers. In just this first year, they’ve grown to a readership of over 20,000.
For Roach Ag Marketing, their team is incredibly tuned into the needs and habits of their audience of farmers. Their wins in both categories Best Multi-Market Campaign and Best e-Newsletter show that attention to reader preferences leads to big results. Their e-newsletter consistently delivers 30% open rate, 7% click rate, and 85% annual renewal rate.
Take Your Niche to the Next Level
This year’s Nichee Awards truly showcased all the qualities of being a success in 2020 and beyond. Cannabis & Tech Today showed how fresh podcast content with obvious ties to your core brand will lead to growth in all channels. St. Louis Magazine used a new birthday club email campaign to deliver revenue, engagement, and a 41% open rate.
Progressive Grocer turned their Top Women in Grocery event into the most prestigious honor for female leaders in the food industry and a catalyst for top-level discussion and action for workplace diversity. Coastal Style Magazine successfully rebranded in 2019 and illustrates how customized content for both enthusiasts and dabblers will max your audience revenue!
Get a Niche’n Team
But in order to have an award-winning niche publication, you need an award-winning staff. Our winning sales executives and publishers showed how ambition and enthusiasm for their niche led to huge revenue growth and diversification along with a positive impact on their internal teams. One thing was clear, when you hire great people and give them all the tools and resources they need, they will thrive.
If you want to see what award-winning characteristics you need to excel this year and beyond, make sure you check out the recording of our awards presentation. And if you want to see who are the top niche media companies to beat, check out our full list of 2020 Nichee Award winners here!
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More about Megan: Megan Black is the Content Maven for Niche Media. She also directs the content efforts of the Second Street Lab. When she’s not passionately defending the Oxford comma, Megan passes the time with the latest Netflix marathon.
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Niche Media has the best events, education, and training in media! Our super niched-out events & content give target-audience publishers in the B2C, hobbyist, B2B, city & regional, and association markets the tools they need to build revenue, audience, and more.
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