Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/21/2011 -- The award recognises excellence in magazine cover design, with the December 2010 front cover, entitled “Food Awards 2010”, winning both a Gold Award in the category Entertainment/Music and the overall prize for Best Magazine Cover of the Year.

The MPA Awards are the most prestigious awards in Malaysian magazine publishing and have been in existence for four years. This year’s awards – recognising covers released in 2010 – were the biggest ever with 188 front covers submitted from all the major magazine publishers in the country.

The MPA Awards is the latest success for the Time Out brand, the magazine having successfully defended their crown in the PPA Awards in London earlier this year. The PPA Awards are the Oscars for the print and magazine industry in London, United Kingdom, and Time Out’s wins in both 2010 and 2011 were heavily attributed to the magazine’s global reach in cities such as KL.

Editor of Time Out Kuala Lumpur, Lim Chee Wah, was understandably thrilled to have won the two MPA Awards. “This is an amazing achievement and I want to thank the whole team for the incredibly hard work that goes into producing Time Out KL every month for the past three and a half years. Their efforts fully deserve winning Malaysia’s most prestigious magazine award.”

The awards, held in front of 300 of the top publishing and advertising executives and media owners, plus students of media from local colleges, took place at Kumpulan Media Karangkraf Sdn Bhd in Shah Alam on Wednesday 10 November, 2011.

The Jury who decided the winners, using a stringent and accountable rating system, included many of the most respected names in Malaysian media. They were: Dr Junita Shariza bt Mohd Nasir, Lecturer at Fakulti Teknologi Seni & Seni Reka Industri Universiti Industri Selangor; Sayuti bin Chik Tajudin, Lecturer at Fakulti Teknologi Seni & Seni Reka Industri Universiti Industri Selangor; Darren Cheng, Head of Art at Brand Solutions for Hire Sdn Bhd; Prabha Nayar, Chief Communication Consultant, Epic Works Sdn Bhd; Mohamed Razeef bin Abdul Razak, Lecturer in the Graphic Design Department, Faculty of Art & design, Universiti Teknologi MARA; and Peter Das, Senior General Manager of Berjaya Corporation Berhad.

There were six categories in total, split into Bahasa, English and Chinese language to reflect the diverse array of magazines in Malaysia. The categories were Women, Home/Lifestyle, Entertainment/Music, Current Affairs/Business, Teenager/Children, and Special Interest/Niche. Magazines were judged using strict criteria with grades awarded for choice of image, cover-lines, design, layout, impact and suitability for the audience – both readers and advertisers. There were Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards given according to these scores and once the six categories had been awarded, all the Gold Award winners were collected and the best one chosen as Magazine Cover of the Year 2010.

With this award, Time Out KL even more firmly establishes itself as the definitive publication for KLites to discover the city around them. Time Out magazine was started in London in 1968 and has now spread to more than 40 cities around the world. Time Out Kuala Lumpur was launched in April 2008 and is consistently one of KL’s most popular magazines. Since launch Time Out KL has also produced four annual guides under the Time Out Malaysia brand about Shopping, Kids, Restaurants, Bars & Clubs, and a Visitors Guide which is sold all over the world. In early 2011, Time Out KL also launched a unique iPhone Application in partnership with Heineken and Guinness, which has already had more than 15,000 downloads. The Time Out KL iPhone Application is free of charge and can be downloaded now from the iTunes Store.

In 2010, Mongoose Publishing Sdn Bhd also launched Time Out Penang as the newest addition to the Time Out world. This stand-alone 160+ page guide will be joined by a website and iPhone Application in early 2012.

This historic victory in the Magazine Publishers Association Awards is the latest piece of good news for Time Out KL in the same week that Editor Lim Chee Wah appeared in “where in the world is Matt Lauer”, a very popular segment of NBC’s The Today Show, telling the show’s 60 million viewers around the world all the great things to see and do in the city of Kuala Lumpur.

Graham Paling, Group MD of Mongoose, said, ”This is an exciting time for Mongoose and Time Out KL. I’m so proud of the team for this win. It represents a peak after nearly four years work. We make magazines that are not guided by PR or advertisers. We invest in the best journalists and produce innovative work and platforms that readers actually want to read and enjoy. The response and successful newsstand figures speak for themselves.

“Over time we have been able to build a quite brilliant edition of Time Out that ranks alongside the likes of London and New York, and it shows that Malaysians and KLites are intelligent consumers who appreciate quality. For them, and for the Time Out KL team, this is a great award to win and I’m a very proud man today.”

Winning this award is far from the culmination of the year’s work for Time Out Kuala Lumpur. Next week the magazine goes to print with the Food Awards issue for 2011, revealing the choices of its 125,000 readers and over half a million website visitors in 19 categories for the best places to eat out in KL. The Time Out KL Food Awards 2011, proudly partnered by American Express, are KL’s top awards for restaurants, kitchens, chefs and restaurateurs and the winners will be kept a tight secret until revealed at a glamorous awards night on November 23 and in print in the magazine available on newsstands the next day.

About Time Out Kuala Lumpur
Time Out magazine is the definitive entertainment, arts, culture and lifestyle guide to the world’s great cities. Kuala Lumpur has taken its place amongst other important global centres including London, New York, Chicago, Mumbai, Singapore and Dubai where citizens have access to their own city’s version of Time Out magazine.

From the very first edition in London in 1968, Time Out has been covering topics from bars to spas and culture to couture. Time Out has grown to become a trusted and respected magazine all over the world.

Time Out Kuala Lumpur is the most trusted source in KL for both readers and advertisers alike.

Time Out Kuala Lumpur is the most influential magazine in KL, boasting a readership of over 125,000 affluent, outgoing people who share a love of finding out what’s going on and who actively participate in everything that’s happening in their city.

Time Out Kuala Lumpur has independent, impartial, interesting and unbiased editorial — making it unique from every other publication in Kuala Lumpur and therefore has a huge and loyal readership. Time Out Kuala Lumpur is the largest and most exciting magazine in KL.

About Mongoose
Mongoose is an international media business established in London in 1990 with offices in New York, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. Mongoose provides world class consumer publications (publisher of Time Out KL, Time Out Malaysia Guides, Time Out Penang, Expatriate Lifestyle, Essential Education, Golf Vacations, The Circular and Esquire), web solutions, contract sales, contract publishing, creative marketing solutions, event management and PR. With a guiding principle of ‘Communicating with Integrity’, Mongoose utilises its international experience spanning three decades and succeeds in bringing editorial, design, marketing, PR, events, communications and web-based best practice to Malaysia.