2020 Shorthand Awards: Meet the judges
This year’s judging panel is ready to help us recognise the best storytelling on the web
We're excited to announce this year's judges for the 2020 Shorthand Awards!
The Shorthand Awards are your chance to nominate and celebrate the best-of-the-best digital storytelling.
Nominations are open. We’ve loved looking through the entries so far, but know there are plenty more to come. If you haven’t nominated yet, don’t worry — there’s time! The deadline is January 10, 2021.
Once those entries are in, our team works hard to whittle down a long list of amazing nominations to a special shortlist. This then goes to the final vote of the judging panel.
Read on to meet the team.
The judges
This year, we’ve enlisted the help of 8 storytelling experts — including judges from previous years and some brand new faces — to have the all-important final say.
Chris Stokel-Walker, returning judge
Chris Stokel-Walker, returning judge
Chris Stokel-Walker
Freelance journalist & author
Chris Stokel-Walker, returning judge
Chris is a freelance journalist who has written for The Economist, Wired, New Scientist, and The New York Times. He wrote the launch longform story for BuzzFeed News back in 2012, and is the author of YouTubers: How YouTube Shook Up TV and Created a New Generation of Stars, published in May 2019, and TikTok Boom: China, the US and the Superpower Race for Social Media, which is being published in April 2021.
Jonathan Jessop Batty
Head of Content & Storytelling
IBM Europe
Jonathan Jessop Batty, new judge
Jonathan is a storyteller and corporate communications leader with two decades of international experience. His expertise is in helping companies communicate their value to key stakeholders across business and society. As part of his current role, he also acts as Chief Communications Officer for the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project and is responsible for media and public engagement.
Jonathan Jessop Batty, new judge
Jonathan Jessop Batty, new judge
Livvy Haydock, returning judge
Livvy Haydock, returning judge
Livvy Haydock
Producer & presenter
Livvy Haydock, returning judge
Livvy reports and produces investigative documentaries. She has worked for BBC, ITN, Channel 4, Al Jazeera, National Geographic Channel, and Sky. With a focus on crime and hostile environments, her most recent films include Festival Drugs: Meet the Dealers, Inside Britain’s Black Market, and Inside Britain’s Moped Crime Gangs.
Mark Stephens
Executive Producer, Storytelling, Group Transformation
Lloyds Banking Group
Mark Stephens, new judge
Mark brings over 20 years’ experience in media, marketing, and strategy in the UK, Europe and US. He has delivered solutions to brands, including Google, Sony, and L'Oréal. At Lloyds Banking Group, Mark helped to launch an internal creative comms agency called “Storytelling”. The team — consisting of producers, animators, filmmakers and writers — tell the story of one of the largest corporate digital transformations in Europe and its positive impact on colleagues, customers, and partners.
Mark Stephens, new judge
Mark Stephens, new judge
Sarah Singer, returning judge
Sarah Singer, returning judge
Sarah Singer
Senior Director of Innovation
VICE Media
Sarah Singer, returning judge
Sarah is a journalist whose career has spanned format and platform. She has worked in audio/podcasting, video/visual, and has produced digital interactive news products. Currently, she is the Senior Director of Innovation for VICE where she develops new formats to engage young and diverse audiences. Previously, she was Executive Producer of a podcast called Should This Exist? about the intersection of technology and humanity. Sarah also worked at Mic as EP of Video, Director of Innovation and Managing Editor.
Dr Skye Doherty
Lecturer & Director of Engagement
School of Communication & Arts
The University of Queensland
Dr Skye Doherty, returning judge
Skye is a journalism and interaction design researcher at The University of Queensland. Her work focuses on how new and emerging technologies can be designed for journalistic values and public-interest storytelling. She has a background in journalism, having worked in newsrooms in Australia, South East Asia and the United Kingdom, before moving into academic research.
Dr Skye Doherty, returning judge
Dr Skye Doherty, returning judge
Steve Carroll, new judge
Steve Carroll, new judge
Steve Carroll
Founder of Digital Live & charity influencer
Steve Carroll, new judge
Steve is a respected international sales leader and has been immersed in digital economies across the globe. He has held leadership roles at EMAP UK, News Corp Australia and REA Group. He also worked in the UAE while at PropertyFinder. Steve is now the Founder of Digital Live — an educational program bringing real estate and digital marketing together, and works tirelessly for the children’s charity Hands Across The Water.
Tom Langan
Social Director
Iris
Tom Langan, returning judge
Tom loves creating thumb-stopping stories for busy social feeds backed up by solid strategy work. For seven years, he's done this in-house with big-name brands, led brand building for a global digital publisher, and is now on the agency side bringing social to life for brands — including Starbucks and Samsung.
Tom Langan, returning judge
Tom Langan, returning judge
The categories
The first five categories will be judged by our panel of storytelling experts, while the winner of the final category will be decided by our community of users and followers on social media.
Best editorial story
This category celebrates innovative use of Shorthand for news and editorial content. That includes breaking news, longform feature articles, sports stories, entertainment pieces, and data journalism.
Best brand story
This is a chance for brands and marketers to show us how they're engaging audiences with Shorthand. Think: brand publishing and visual marketing campaigns.
Best not-for-profit story
We want to see and showcase the inventive ways in which not-for-profits, charities and NGOs are using digital storytelling to evoke emotion, move readers to action, and inspire change in the world.
Best business story
This category is for interactive B2B stories, corporate comms and annual reports that delight and engage readers — snubbing that tired, old PDF format!
Best education story
We'd love to see stories from students, educational institutions, and learning and development teams that go the extra mile — teaching and informing audiences using visual pizzazz and interactivity.
To nominate your own — or a colleague’s — story for one of the five categories above, please click the button below and fill out our form. You can submit multiple nominations.
The Community Choice Award
A list of stunning stories — chosen by the Shorthand team — will be showcased on The Craft and social media, and the winner selected via an open public poll.
More information coming soon.
Key dates for your diary:
Community Choice Award list announced: December 2020
Deadline for nominations: January 10, 2021
Shortlist announced: February 2021
Final winners announced: March 2021
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