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DESIGN

Introducing… The Local’s new design

You may have noticed that a few things have changed around here.

Introducing... The Local's new design

Introducing what?

Our new design! We’ve changed the look of our site!

Have you?

Yes, we have. And it’s taken six months of extremely hard work so don’t pretend you didn’t notice.

Oh. Thought something looked different.

Actually, everything is different. We’ve completely rebuilt our sites to be ‘mobile first’, more secure and 100% responsive using Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology, not to mention adding a –

Yeah, whatever – how is this better for me?

Well, there are two specific improvements that you will hopefully appreciate. The first is that our new design allows us to present a lot more of our content to our readers, a lot more clearly. And secondly, every page downloads faster. MUCH faster. So if you’re reading The Local on your phone, you will notice a big difference. Words like ‘blistering’, lightning’, ‘breakneck’ and ‘pronto’ spring to mind.

We also happen to think that the new look is very pleasing on the eye.

It’s OK.

Nice of you to say.

What about the ads?

What about them?

There are ADS on your site!

Yes, there are indeed ads on our sites. This is partly how we pay our way. And they should load much more smoothly now. As you may have noticed in the last five years, we also have sponsored articles on our sites (they pay the other half of our salaries). These are more clearly identified now and are put in a more relevant context.

Fair enough. So why don’t all of your sites look like this?

One step at a time, my friend. The first editions to get the makeover are Italy and Norway. Over the next few weeks we will be tidying a few things up and applying the new look to our other sites.

Where do I complain?

Hopefully complaining is the last thing you’ll be doing, but we’d love to hear what you think. If you would like to comment or, indeed, if you spot something that isn’t working properly, feel free to let us know on Facebook, Twitter or by mailing [email protected].

Right, I’ll get typing then.

And we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Paywall free

THELOCAL

The Local’s Confronting Coronavirus series nominated for major European media award

A series of solutions-focused articles in which The Local’s journalists took an in-depth look at responses to the coronavirus pandemic has been shortlisted for the European Digital Media Awards 2021.

The Local's Confronting Coronavirus series nominated for major European media award
People register to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at a pop-up vaccination station in Berlin on July 16th, 2021. Photo: Stefanie Loos/AFP

The Local’s Confronting Coronavirus series is competing in the European Digital Media Awards’s Best Project for News Literacy category, against AFP’s fact check training videos and The Guardian Foundation: Education Centre and NewsWise.

The category recognises “projects aimed at enhancing news literacy skills, promote critical thinking and further the smart consumption of news”.

The winner is set to be announced by WAN-IFRA – World Association of News Publishers – on July 22nd.

The Local’s nine European news sites have together published nearly 8,000 articles about the pandemic to date. In our Confronting Coronavirus series, our journalists took an in-depth look at our countries’ pandemic responses through a Solutions Journalism lens.

Solutions Journalism is evidence-based journalism that moves from reporting only on the problem to looking at what possible solutions exist, things people are doing to try to make things better and how these solutions are working – and what’s not working.

The series was supported by a $5,000 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network, a non-profit organisation dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. Thanks to this grant, articles in the series were free for other media outlets to republish under a Creative Commons licence.

The Confronting Coronavirus was published in the summer of 2020. You can read all articles in the series here, as well as a couple of articles published after the grant period ended.

As well as the Solutions Journalism Network, we are grateful for our community of paying members. If you would like to support The Local in our goal to provide essential and responsible English-language reporting from across Europe, find out more here.

Here are all the finalists in the European Digital Media Awards 2021:

Best News Website or Mobile Service

Best Paid Content Strategy

Best in Audience Engagement

Best Project for News Literacy

Best Digital Marketing Campaign for a News Brand

Best Use of Online Video

Best Data Visualisation

Best Special Project for Covid-19

Best Digital Audio Project

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