Avalanche, Northern Lights | Nordlys won a prize in the “journalism Oscar” in London

The International News Media Association (INMA) annually awards awards during the Global Media Awards, which is the world’s largest journalism conference – often referred to as the “Oscars of journalism”.

The award ceremony took place at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on Thursday evening.

The awards have been awarded since 1937. Nordlys has never previously won.

Present at the award ceremony in London were journalists and project managers from “Skredet” Andreas Beddari Høyer and Rune Endresen, photographer Yngve Olsen and Kristine T. Solberg who were involved in the visual work.

– Fantastic teamwork. We are incredibly proud. First of all, we must thank the family and those involved who have shared the story with us. We would also like to thank Amedia and Nordlys for giving us the opportunity to carry out the project, says project manager and journalist Rune Endresen after receiving the award together with his colleagues.

INMA has over 16,000 members in over 900 media companies in over 70 countries.

The goal is to produce quality journalism and relevant content that will inspire.

Nordlys and the report “Skredet” are winners in the following category:

“Best visual journalism and storytelling”

The nominees in the category were:

• Bergens Tidende, Bergen, Norway, “Three Shots in Ibsens Gate” (which won this year’s SKUP award in Norway)
• Nordlys magazine, Tromsø, Norway, “The Avalanche (Skredet)”
• InfoAmazonia, São Paulo, Brazil; La Liga Contra el Silencio, Bogotá, Colombia; and Armando.Info, Venezuela, “Amazon Underworld”
• Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Germany, “The Gun Mania and Us: European Weapons, American Victims”
• Vocento, Madrid, Spain, “Nobody Knows What It’s Like to Live on the Street: They Do and They Tell You About It”

Nordlys has won several awards for “Skredet”:

• Amedia’s main award for “Best Journalism”
• The Norwegian Journalist Association Nord’s main award “Toppskarven”
• Svarte Natta: Honorable mention
• Nominated for Visual History of the Year at Nordic Media Days (decided in May):

SHORT VERSION

Five close friends were going on a summit trip in the Lyng Alps. It became their worst nightmare. The avalanche is a story in six parts about a very dramatic avalanche accident which is set in the context of increasing death tolls and injuries in Norwegian mountains, especially among tourists, and particularly in Troms. The series has been translated into English and German.

You can read the entire report here:

https://www.nordlys.no/vis/annonse/skredet-utkast1/

It is also translated into English and German:

(English): https://www.nordlys.no/vis/annonse/the-avalanche/

(German): https://www.nordlys.no/vis/annonse/die-lawine/

CONTENTS

“The avalanche” is a ground-breaking visual story based on a large data material from an avalanche in the Lyng Alps.

The series deals with the large death toll in connection with landslides and large unknown damage figures – especially in Troms.

The story shows in detail what happens in an avalanche accident and why the avalanche accident occurs.

It shows heroic rescue work in the field – despite helicopter chaos, misjudgments and a long time.

The UNN message to the public was “light and “moderate injuries”. Insight into personal epics, however, showed very ugly injuries and after-effects where two ended up in a coma, punctured lungs and a number of broken bones. Only chance prevented more deaths.

The story contains a number of visual elements based on GPS logs, health logs, detailed maps, animations based on own drone recordings, video/photos/drone recordings from the rescue operation, sound effects, calculations of speed, volume and spread, animation of the build-up of a dangerous snow layer based on weather data over 14 days and a dynamic timeline.

FINDINGS:

• The reports show a lack of knowledge about the avalanche warning service among top foreign tourists. In addition, only parts of the avalanche warning are available in English.
• The accident at Erikaksla in Lyngen revealed chaos in the rescue operation – afterwards the entire avalanche service has been reorganised.
• 105 accommodation facilities, organisations, national authorities and the rescue service subsequently signed an agreement on cooperation to minimize the number of avalanche accidents.
• Subsequently, NVE launched a new campaign aimed at foreign ski tourists.
• An avalanche app has now been developed with recommended trips and routes – and initiatives have been taken for daily meetings between the guides in Lyngen who can share information about exposed areas and avalanche danger.
• Work is now underway to establish a national avalanche center in Lyngen.

THE LANDSLIDE AND THE NORTHERN LIGHTS:

• One of the most widely read cases in Northern Lights history – which brought considerable attention and started national and local debates
• Published in a number of Amedia’s cooperative newspapers across the country.
• Has revolutionized and redefined Amedia’s tools for visual storytelling.
• Unique collaboration across Amedia between a number of newspapers and departments.
• “The avalanche” has changed the way Nordlys refers to avalanche accidents and the contact with the rescue services.

WHOSE:

• Journalists and project managers: Andreas Beddari Høyer and Rune Endresen
• Photo: Yngve Olsen
• Animations: Kristoffer Lorentzen and Øyvind Lind
• Graphics: Oskar Bjørkum
• Visual: Kristine T. Solberg and Hallvar Wergeland Agersborg