Faroe Islands Translate campaign wins at the World Media Awards 2018

Faroe Islands Translate, the online translation service which saw Faroese volunteers translating by video in a bid to have their unique language included on Google Translate, won the top Travel & Tourism Award at the World Media Awards on 23 March, 2018.

The event, which took place in London at the prestigious Ham Yard Hotel in Soho, was originally established to demonstrate the effectiveness of cross-platform, cross-border, content-driven advertising, and to celebrate bold and creative strategies for engaging with international and influential audiences.

Faroe Islands Translate allowed people from around the world to type their word or phrase into the website and to have a translation video instantly recorded by a Faroese volunteer and sent back, free of charge. The initiative allowed people everywhere to learn words in Faroese, whilst watching and listening to a local speaking the language, and also to gain a window on to the magical world of those that live in the Faroe Islands.

Nominated alongside Botswana Tourism, Finavia Corporation, Star Alliance and Tel Aviv Lifeguard Tower Hotel, Visit Faroe Islands was thrilled to scoop the top award in the Travel & Tourism category. It was announced that the campaign was:

“…a simple and genius idea, engaging the population of the Faroe Islands in a campaign to save their language, creating a viral campaign which generated awareness of a little-known territory.”

This year’s win follows the 2017 viral success of the Faroe Islands’ Sheep View 360 campaign, which also scooped the top award in the same category.

Guðrið Højgaard, Director of Tourism at Visit Faroe Islands, said:

“It really is an honour to have won the Travel & Tourism Award at the World Media Awards for the second year in a row. The intention of Faroe Islands Translate was to be able to share the wonderful uniqueness of our treasured language and the beauty of our country with people around the world and it is fantastic to have this recognised on the world stage. This award will mean a great deal to all of the 50,000 Faroese people, many of whom participated in Faroe Islands Translate; we are both honoured and delighted to have won.”

The independent judging panel for the World Media Awards 2018 consisted of international advertisers, agency experts and editorial specialists. The criteria for the winning entrant in the Travel & Tourism category included the ability to demonstrate the power of storytelling and the opportunity to convey the attraction of a destination or travel experience to an international audience.

Working with Visit Faroe Islands on Sheep View 360 were creative agencies Sansir and Mensch, the Faroe’s national carrier, Atlantic Airways, Kovboyfilm and London-based PR agency, Travel PR.

For more information, see www.visitfaroeislands.com.