#MillennialsMemilih: From Being a Prototype to Winning Asian Digital Media Awards 2019 — Part 1

In March 2018, when we lost at the Jakarta Editors Lab, I would not have believed if anyone told me that we could win our first international award more than a year later.

Yes. We just bagged one bronze at the 10th edition of the Asian Digital Media Awards for Best Digital Project to Engage Younger and/or Millennial Audiences. This was organized by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The project that gained kudos from the judges in Hong Kong on Wednesday, 30 October 2019, was #MillennialsMemilih.

It was exactly the prototype that Iqbal, Paulo and I had created 19 months before, except for the name (I will get back to this in a moment later). But, how did we go from being on the losing side to the winning corner? Here is our journey:

Explore ideas.

Iqbal, Paulo and I were beating our brains out to build the most simple prototype at the Jakarta Editors Lab on March 10, 2018. Photo: provided by the organizers.

In late February last year, IDN Times Editor-in-Chief, Uni Lubis, asked us to compete at the three-day event which was held at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara in Serpong two weeks later. The Jakarta Editors Lab was a part of Global Editors Network and supported by Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI).

To be honest with you, I skipped my brother’s wedding so I could fly to the capital (I was and still am based in Surabaya, Indonesia). My family was very understanding, therefore I made a promise to myself to try to not miss as many family events as possible. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, for two weeks prior to the competition, we had sat down with Uni in our Surabaya office to talk about what prototype we would create. Being open to various ideas, committed to walking through the details, and dared to admit the weaknesses and strengths in every proposal were the important keys in this stage.

Iqbal (the designer) had come up with some suggestions. Paulo (the developer) and I (the journalist) had been thinking of different ideas. At last, the three of us and Uni had agreed to sort of taking something from each other’s ideas, throwing them into a bucket and trashing everything else. In retrospect, I think that was because we hadn’t had any clear purpose.

Simplify everything.

One of the rooms where some of the teams were baking ideas. You can see we were talking to the two judges who helped us to arise to the occasion. Photo: provided by the organizers.

The Jakarta Editors Lab was a big deal. When we got to the venue, we met with all the teams that would be our competitors in winning the judges’ hearts and minds. Unlike us, they were pro in their respective fields and coming from well-established news organizations across the country.

Day 1 (March 9) was spent learning from previous winners. We also got a chance to hear from media experts from Singapore, USA, and France. The key message that they kept repeating to us in the auditorium was about simplicity. We sat in my hotel room at night and mapped out the first things we had to do for the day after. I think we slept for less than four hours.

Anyway, before arriving in Serpong, Paulo, Iqbal and I had stayed a night in Jakarta. I’d asked them to come into my room to do some brainstorming. After some hours, I’d proposed that we changed our prototype because to me it didn’t look like what the judges might have wanted.

“The goal is for designer and developer to help journalists or newsroom in covering elections. So, we should address the problem that journalists encounter in doing our jobs,” I said to them. The issue, I believed, was to connect the newsroom with our readers who happened to be millennials and gen Z.

I would feel so relieved that we were on the same team. They hadn’t shown the slightest ego to force their original ideas and, instead, agreed to go with what I’d suggested. With their respective brilliance and expertise, they’d translate my proposition into something tangible.

Fast forward to Day 2 (March 10), Iqbal helped me with step-by-step on how to create a prototype. It was super new to me. We started by defining the problem down to the mechanics of the solution — which was how the prototype worked. However, we kind of getting a big, hard, slap in the face.

Not that our go-to-idea was terrible, but we did not build simplicity around and in it. We still messed up here and there. Fortunately, the judges were very welcome for consultation. Simplicity was important because the prototype must be viable to implement.

Don’t Panic. But, How?

I was trusted with the presentation on March 11, 2018. Paulo, on the computer next to me, was helping out to run it. Photo: provided by the organizers.

We panicked after being told that many parts of our planned prototype needed to undergo some very fundamental changes. Why? Because it was still so messy and almost impossible to realize.

“I mean, we only have less than two hours before giving mandatory updates on the progress to the whole room, and now we must do it over?” I said to myself. Luckily, we somehow managed.

Then, we spent the evening of March 10 with presenting the progress to all teams and the judges. At least two of the judges nodding at our prototype. I felt a stream of optimism, especially since some groups from legacy media tried to claim that their targeted audience was millennials.

Afterward, we went to the nearby McDonald’s for dinner and work until the past midnight. We believed we still had many things to finalize. The clock was ticking faster. My head was spinning from lack of sleep and stressing about whether we could nail this rare opportunity.

The next day was the final moment. Paulo, who was in charge of coding, built the prototype based on my proposition and Iqbal’s sleek design. Now, it was time for me to present the prototype which we agreed to name it ‘Z-Lection’. This instant, Iqbal lent a hand again to create the most simple and professional presentation.

I went out of the room while Paulo was working his magic. I roamed around the hall to find an empty corner where I could memorize my presentation. The judges decided that each presenter could only use 5 minutes, so I tried so hard to manage my time by keeping my presentation short.

But Lord only knew what happened because I ran out of time before finishing it. I was cursing out loud inside my brain for letting my team down, especially because I knew how hard Paulo and Iqbal worked for the prototype to happen. I was panicking. I spent a too long time explaining the problem. I was not professional.

The decision was out for everyone to see. The judges favored a team from Tempo with their Tinder-style prototype. Sarah, one of the judges who was with Global Editors Network, at the time told us that ‘Z-Lection’ was in her top three to win. Alas, the rest of the juries didn’t think so.

We were disappointed. I was disappointed, mainly in myself, for ruining the presentation. I kind of felt that it affected the whole judgment. At last, instead of Lisbon, Portugal, where the winner would go, we had to go home.

Kindly read the second part here.