“In order to reach younger readers we try to deliver our content on digital platforms,” says Budiman Tanuredjo, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief,  “but in the ‘Kompas way’: we don’t produce noise, but we provide a voice. Even on social media platforms, we try to change from ‘noise’ to ‘voice’, from ‘Sensasi’ (sensation) to ‘Substansi’ (substance) to serve our readers.”

Kompas won the top designation in this year’s WAN-IFRA World Young Reader Prize awards based on six activities that included youth as reporters, environmental actions and jazz, all with the heavy involvement of social media.

An attention to the needs of the young has been a quest from the start, according to Jakob Oetama, 83, pictured at left, who co-founded the newspaper 50 years ago that has grown into the multimedia Kompas Gramedia organization. “We also made this newspaper to educate our people,” Oetama says.

The WAN-IFRA World Young Reader News Publisher of the Year award will be presented on 3 September in Mumbai during the WAN-IFRA India Conference and Expo.

Read the full story by Gilles Demptos about Kompas Gramedia’s successful strategies in Asia News Media Focus.