MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) – RIA Novosti has won prizes at the SND34 Best of Digital Design contest, organized by the international Society for News Design (SND). The winning projects are “1812: War and Peace. A New Look” dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the 1812 war with Napoleon and the redesign RIA Novosti website launched last October – for individual approach to news production.

«RIA Novosti has been winning SND awards for several years. The agency was the first Russian media outlet to win an international prize for news design,” said SND Regional Director Svetlana Maksimchenko. “This year RIA Novosti was rewarded not only for its special projects and infographics, as previously, but also for the redesign of their flagship site. This is even more important than prizes for individual projects because the flagship site showcases RIA’s overall approach to digital design.”

Maksimchenko said that the contest had received entries from over 100 news outlets from across the world. There were Russian candidates among the winners, which is very important. The Society for News Design (SND) presented one of the best design awards to the new design of Lenta.ru.

“Three Russian victories, including RIA’s flagship site, Lenta.ru and RIA’s special project, is a big achievement for Russian designers. We have gained recognition on the international market. We are in fact setting trends in digital design. We are particularly pleased to see that the tremendous work done by our designers to reinvent the RIA Novosti website has been acknowledged by international experts,” said RIA Novosti Art Director Ilya Ruderman.

Society for News Design, established in 1979, is an international organization that comprises around 1,500 news design experts from around the globe. Every year, SND hands out awards for the best print and online news outlets.