Ceremony for European Design Awards
In a brief ceremony at Kathimerini’s fifth-floor lounge last Tuesday afternoon, the newspaper’s owners, publisher, editors and business and production managers gathered to celebrate the European Design awards that Athens Plus and Kathimerini won at the European Newspaper Congress. Designer Valentina Villegas-Nikas presented Mr Aristidis Alafouzos, chairman of Kathimerini’s board, with the stone sculpture won by Athens Plus as Europe’s Best-Designed Weekly Newspaper and two diplomas – one for Athens Plus and the other an «Award of Excellence» for the front page art section of a Saturday edition of Kathimerini. The double success was a source of pride and satisfaction and confirms Kathimerini’s interest in continually striving to win the support of its readers with editorial products of the highest standards, creating modern, European-oriented newspapers. Both publications were designed by Valentina Villegas-Nikas, who redesigned all of Kathimerini’s editions (weekday, Saturdays and Sundays) and created Athens Plus’s winning format in cooperation with the staff of Kathimerini’s English Edition. A Colombian, Villegas-Nikas studied journalism and communications at Bolivariana University and then specialized in newspaper design at Spain’s Universidad de Navarra. She is married to journalist and fellow prize-winning designer Dimitris Nikas and they have two children.
