Prestigious Webby Awards nominate and honour NATO web documentary
NATO’s Return to Hope web documentary, which retraces the last 13 years of Afghanistan’s history and international involvement in the country, has been nominated for this year’s Webby Awards (‘the Oscars of the Internet’). Selected from 13,000 websites submitted from 60 countries, the web documentary is nominated in the category of Best Use of Photography. It has also been honoured in the Webby categories of Public Service & Activism and Best Visual Design.
The Webby Award brings together the highest-quality web content in the world. In the category in which it is nominated, Return to Hope competes along websites produced by CNN, The New York Times, National Geographic and Mashable.com.
All five sites are also up for a People’s Voice Webby Award. Winners will be designated by public vote (see link below).
The NATO web documentary was also honoured in the Public Service & Activism category and in the Best Visual Design category, which praises 11 other sites from a number of prominent international brands.
“NATO is honoured to receive such prestigious recognition for the Return to Hope website by the Webby Awards. The awards nomination and honours are a testament to not only the hard work of my team and that of the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, but to all international organisations on the impact of quality multimedia storytelling to connect with wider audiences. It’s also exciting that it is the public who will, at least partially, decide if NATO deserves this Webby Award,” says Steven Mehringer, Head of the Communications Services in NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division.
Return to Hope tells the story of Afghanistan by weaving together the accounts of six individuals whose lives have been inextricably linked to rebuilding the country. It also provides an in-depth look into the critical issues and challenges that marked the 13-year period of the deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Since its launch in September 2014, Return to Hope has won four awards, a notable feat for a website on a complex topic made by a public institution: The FWA (Site of the Day), Awwwards (Site of the Day), Designlicks (Site of the Day) and Web Designer Magazine (Site of the Day).
For more information about the Webby nomination and the competition, click here.