We are excited to announce The New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards, has been named winner of the 'Get Back to Business' R100, 000 Hybrid Studio Experience Competition, recently held by The Ticketpro Dome.

On Tuesday morning, our small New Gen team tuned into Hot91.9FM's breakfast show, anticipating the winner’s announcement, and we hit the roof when our company was named, say Stephen Paxton, founder and CEO at the New Gen Awards.

Winning this magnificent R100, 000 of Ticketpro Dome Hybrid Studio production is beyond words. When I entered the business into the competition a couple of months ago, I naturally saw a fit, not just for New Gen but also for Ticketpro to showcase their innovation to our audience.

As an independent small micro enterprise, our clients consist of the leading media agencies and corporate marketing teams, some of the brightest creative minds in South Africa at the forefront of SA's future communications, media and digital technologies. These great people have made such a positive impact on our industry, so it is only fair that their hard work gets showcased this year, on the very best eventing stage. Winning this truly exceptional prize does just that, and offers New Gen an incredible hybrid multimedia platform to host the perfect awards, says Paxton.

When we were forced to stop physical events back in 2020, just like many other awards, we had to adapt our business model and look for alternate ways to showcase the winners, whilst maintaining that human connection. We saw a Hugh drop in revenue from loss of ticket sales and our sponsorships dramatically declined with entry sales being the only source of income.

My experience saw many brands choosing not to allocate the limited marketing budgets they had towards sponsoring online events, which had a truly negative effect on the business, says Paxton; and being an independently run awards we rely heavily on sponsorship and the continued support from within the industry. We did managed to host the virtual awards ceremony in 2020, but there was so much more we could have achieved.

I believe virtual events will continue long after the pandemic has left us, with more and more events opting for the hybrid and/or virtual experience. We have to give our clients a choice, and offering a hybrid awards ceremony does just that. The audience reached is far greater globally, which gives excellent exposure for sponsors and the winner’s. As more and more award shows choose to keep their events online, businesses and brands will inevitably need to adapt marketing budgets to cater for hybrid and virtual events, says Paxton.

- Enthusiastic Ticketpro Dome portfolio director Cynthia Penprase says: “There were so many deserving potential recipients, but there can only be one winner. We are so proud to be hosting the 9th annual New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards at the Hybrid Studio in the world renowned Ticketpro Dome in September 2021.

New Gen would like to say a big thank you to The Ticketpro Dome for helping us 'Get Back to Business'. Together with the Ticketpro Dome hybrid studio team; we can achieve a truly memorable awards ceremony, and bring the magic back to events.

Entries are officially open now for this year’s ninth annual awards and will close on Wednesday 30 June 2021.

Entries are open to all agencies and corporate businesses, small, medium and large.

There are 49 categories to consider and a number of individual awards, such as The Social Wiz Award, which honours the brightest and most promising marketer under the age of 25; The Top Influencer marketer Award; The Best UX designer Award and The best community Engagement Manager Award, make this an exciting event for creatives as well as brands.

For more info visit www.newgenawards.co.za and for hybrid studio info visit www.ticketprodome.co.za

The Ticketpro Dome Hybrid Studio is a versatile multipurpose venue offering action across three platforms: Virtual, live and hybrid, which is an innovative combination of digital and reality. The Hybrid Studio bridges the gap between live and virtual shows, to deliver a fully integrated, flexible digital solution to match any budget, big or small.