Five weeks ago, TV4 play took a big step in the further development of its on-demand service TV4 Play: It started requiring registration to use the service. The reason was to make TV4 Play more user friendly – and to build Sweden’s foremost TV service for entertainment and news online, writes Mathias Berg, COO for the network, in TV4’s media blog. The results were beyond expectations, with over 250,000 registrations so far.

“Despite it being low season with many series having finished before summer, despite the European soccer championship and that we’ve released the registration only on desktop, we’ve registered more than 250,000 free accounts,” writes Berg. “The number of new registrations has fluctuated between a high of 30,000 to a low of 5,000 per day, and continues at a steady pace. It bodes well for when we launch our fantastic fall season after the summer.”

The registration has shown that a little over 50 percent are between ages 15 and 35, 25 percent are 36-55 and 20 percent over 55.

“Dividing up into age groups helps us, among other things, understand the content preferences of our users so we can continue to develop strong digital formats alongside our linear formats,” writes Berg.

When the European soccer championship is finished, the next phase of the registration project launch: log ins on mobile platforms, including iOS apps, Apple TV as well as Android.

At children’s book publisher Carlsen Verlag in Germany, a handful of employees wondered how they could support refugees arriving into the country, thinking beyond fundraising campaigns and personal donations, and instead focusing on using their expertise as a children’s book publisher.

What they came up with was a special edition of one of Carlsen’s most beloved series, the Pixi books, published in the languages of many of the incoming refugees – Arabic, Serbian, Kurdish and Farsi. “We really wanted to demonstrate a gesture of comfort to people who had left everything behind,” says Franziska Dettke, part of the group behind the initiative. The story they chose focuses on friendship and taking care of one another, and the books include a vocabulary list of common words and phrases in German at the back.

A total of 30,000 copies were sent to 50 refugee camps in December 2015, plus the stories were published digitally on Carlsen’s website. Support has been strong, Dettke says, with thanks pouring in from volunteers, teachers and NGOs and employees are planning on visiting refugees’ homes in Hamburg to personally give out the books. “It seems as if the special edition of Pixi books has been only the beginning,” says Dettke.

Meanwhile, at Bonnier Carlsen, the Swedish children’s book publisher also used its expertise in a separate initiative to show how it could support children arriving in the country from countries torn by conflict. Working together with one of its star author-illustrators, Stina Wirsén and the book club Bonniers Bokklubb in a cooperation with Save the Children, the publisher put out a special coloring book featuring Wirsén’s popular Brokiga characters. The coloring books, published in six languages – Swedish, English, Arabic, Dari, French, Farsi and Somali – were distributed in 1,000 packets along with Wirsén’s book Titta! (Look!) by Save the Children to refugee families recently arrived in Sweden. Bonniers Bokklubb members were also given a chance to “buy” packages to be delivered by Save the Children.

As part of the initiative, Wirsén also worked in special reading and coloring workshops at refugee residences. “The idea is that the children can draw more with the pictures and story I’ve started,” says Wirsén. “They become co-creators of a story, a book they can read over and over again.”

The initiative is a long-term project, with plans to eventually include more books.

“It’s so incredibly important to show these kids that they are welcome here,” said Wirsén in an interview published on Bonnier Carlsen’s website. “Hopefully, they will stay here for a long time. They’re our future, the ones who will be doing surgery on our eyes and taking care of children in our kindergartens.”

Mag+ started in 2009 under Bonnier R&D, with the aim of developing a market-leading software for publishing attractive magazines on tablet computers, which were then making their breakthrough by pioneering touchscreen publishing on the first iPad in 2010.

Since then, the business has grown to become one of the fastest and simplest platforms for creating content optimized for mobile devices. Over the past years the focus of Mag+ has shifted from magazines to primarily providing software for corporate communication, for example annual reports and product catalogs in app formats. Hence, the company recently launched a second innovative app creation tool on the market, called Semble.

Mag+ is being acquired by MPS, a publicly listed Indian company with focus on platforms and software for content services, and a special focus on clients within the educational sector. MPS also has a significant presence in North America, the most important market for Mag+ today.

Mag+ will continue to be headed by CEO Staffan Ekholm, one of the founders, maintaining its offices in Stockholm and New York.

"We look forward to adding Netdoktor to our other strong brands within medicine and health," says Mikael Nestius, CEO for Bonnier Business Media Sweden AB. "With, among others, Dagens Medicin and Medibas, we're already the leader within Swedish healthcare and with Netdoktor, we include the most powerful media used by the country's active patients."

Netdoktor's goal is to improve public health through information about health and medicine in language that anyone can understand. Through this, Netdoktor can have an affect on the knowledge gap between those working in healthcare and the general public. 

More than 1oo Swedish doctors, specialists and other medical experts write, edit and update the content on Netdoktor, as well as answer questions sent in by users and in online chats.

"I see this as very positive for Netdoktor's continued development, to have such a strong and long-range focused owner," says Ann-Charlotte Beckman, CEO, Netdoktor.

Bonnier Business Media already had minority shares in Netdoktor, and Mikael Nestius has served on Netdoktor's board of directors.

"I've always been impressed with Netdoktor's work, both editorially and as a business," says Nestius. "During the past years, the company has launched exciting new communication products that have attracted great interest from the pharmaceuticals industry. These new products have also meant that the company has had strong growth and increased profitability."

A new division from U.K.-based Bonnier Publishing will bring together the book publisher's U.S. imprints: start-up publisher Little Bee Books based in New York and veteran publisher Weldon Owen U.S. based in San Francisco, California.

The new division, Bonnier Publishing USA, will be headed by Shimul Tolia, president of children’s imprint Little Bee Books, who has has been promoted to CEO for the division. Roger Shaw, publisher of Weldon Owen U.S., will continue to lead Bonnier Publishing’s West Coast operations, including its food, drink and lifestyle titles. Shaw will report to Tolia.

“Our combined U.S. operation currently accounts for USD 40 million and the plan is for growth in the U.S. to USD 100 million by the end of 2019,” says Richard Johnson, Group CEO, Bonnier Publishing.

Little Bee Books was started in 2014 and will publish 150+ titles this year. Weldon Owen U.S., founded in 1986, was absorbed by Bonnier Publishing in February from sister company Bonnier Corp., bringing the U.K. book group’s overall revenue to USD 180 million.

To prepare for further growth, Bonnier Publishing USA will establish a new flagship office, relocating Little Bee Books from its current premises at 853 Broadway to a larger space at 251 Park Avenue South. The new space will be triple the size of the current office and will act as the division’s headquarters. Weldon Owen U.S. will continue at its offices in San Francisco with marketing and PR staff remaining in the New York City office.

“We have risen from nowhere to be the 4th largest publisher in the U.K. and we intend to drive the same growth strategy in the U.S. in the coming years," says Johnson. "Bonnier Publishing USA, headed by the hugely impressive Shimul Tolia, provides the perfect platform for this.”

Tolia says: “This is an exciting time for us at Bonnier Publishing USA. We launched Little Bee Books in New York City with four employees in 2014 and have grown exponentially in just two years. Including the established Weldon Owen business, we now have a dynamic U.S. company of over 40 employees. Our results over the last year demonstrate a strategy that is working and a strong foundation for growth. We can’t wait to relocate to our new offices in New York City and look forward to bringing more of our books to more people.” 

Joe Brown has been named Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. Brown joins Popular Science from WIRED, where he ran the magazine’s website as Executive Editor. Previously, he was Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo.

This marks Brown’s return to Popular Science; his first job there was an Assistant Editor in 2002. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Joe back to Popular Science,” says Gregory Gatto, VP and Publishing Director of Bonnier Corporation’s Lifestyle Group. “He has exactly the qualities we sought out for the leader of the brand: a nose for a great story, strong leadership, and a wealth of experience elegantly handling website strategy and digital operations.”

Popular Science was Brown’s first real magazine gig, where he learned to architect issues and write cover stories. He left for his first stint at WIRED in 2005. While at WIRED, Brown developed a passion for modernizing high-quality, magazine-style journalism: bringing it into the digital world without sacrificing the values that make it so special. Over the past 10 years, Brown has made that his specialty, and his ambitions at Popular Science reflect that.

“Popular Science has always been an important place for me as a journalist and reader, and I’m so looking forward to returning as Editor,” says Brown. “It’s a legendary brand, and I’m humbled to be entrusted with its care.”

Today, MTV CEO Jarkko Nordlund, who started in January, announced a range of significant new recruitments and roles that will strengthen MTV's operations in Finland. One of the key recruits is Discovery Network Sweden's revenue director and Vice President Sami Vikback, who will become head of the Finnish commercial TV business at MTV.

Vikback's title will be Vice President Advertising Business and will be responsible for the ad-based TV business, both linear and digital. He comes from Discovery Networks Sweden, where he most recently was responsible for the advertising and distribution business. Prior to that he was CEO for SBS TV Finland, charged with making the business profitable in the Finnish market.

Other recruits for the executive management team include Human Resources Director Manne Tienssu, previously of Nets Group and Finnair; and Financial Director Marina Ruohonen, previously of Avarn Security/G4S and Canal Digital. Other members of the team include Head of Marketing and Communications Director Jere Teutari; Head of Content Marko Karvo; Head of Technology Risto Koivula; and Head of Strategy Anna-Reetta Kangasmaa.

The new organization for MTV is divided into two business areas – commercial TV and pay TV – and has common executive management functions within, for example, content, technology and communication. Local Finnish content will be the focus of its offering to consumers. For example, flagship channel MTV3 will broadcast only Finnish-produced series during prime time. And technology and user experience will be of utmost importance.

Food content is data content. Not only in terms of ingredients and the delicate balance between measures, but also very much in what and how readers use recipes online. We live in a Googling age, where good-old recipe books are left on the shelves, and users seek out food content to fit their specific needs, allergies and budgets. They want inspiration, but they also want guidance in what to use specific ingredients with. Who hasn’t Googled "chicken recipes?" This is the premise on which Bonnier Publication’s new digital food service, Måltid, is built.

With a strong ingredient database that spans all Bonnier AB’s Scandinavian markets, the system allows users to find recipes that contain specific ingredients but excludes others. For example, all recipes with chicken but without peanuts -if you suffer from allergies or have very picky children. The recipes on the site come from Bo Bedre, I Form, Tara, Allt om Mat etc. and have all been data-optimized to allow better usage of the recipes both editorially and commercially. With a good offset, the editorial team behind Måltid will produce new content for the busy family to supplement exciting recipes.

Måltid is a project developed in close collaboration among Bonnier Publications and Benjamin Media in Denmark, Bonnier Media in Norway and Bonnier Tidskrifter in Sweden.

“One of the fantastic things about this project is that it was achieved in close collaboration among our teams in Denmark, Norway and Bonnier Tidskrifter in Sweden. It shows what we can do when we work together,” said CEO of Bonnier Publications Jesper Buchvald at the launch of Måltid last week.

The digital service was launched in Denmark on August 8 at maaltid.nu and on August 23 in Norway under the Tara brand as Tara Måltid at maaltid.no. So far the Danish site has had 74,000 users with two food videos going viral, reaching around half a million people each.

“We know what an important role food plays in the daily lives of our readers and with Tara Måltid, we look forward to giving them a tool to find relevant, high-quality recipes online,” says Torunn Pettersen, editor-in-chief of Tara in Norway. 

Spoken-word contest Neighborhood Poetry. Book workshops and a DJ workshop on the basketball court. Plus Sweden's national basketball team, culture organization Gärigheter and the police joining young people in the Stockholm suburb of Kista - it's all part of BonnierHoops, an initiative of Bonnierförlagen, supported by the Swedish Basketball Federation and the afternoon paper Expressen, afellow Bonnier company, among many others.

With BonnierHoops, basketball gives disadvantaged youth a chance to take part in fun activities during July and August, while also being inspired to read.

The spoken-word contest using Swedish creole consisted of two semi-finals plus a final that was judged by a jury that included the poet Mara Lee, poetry-slam poet Sabrina Ibenjellal and rapper Ali Khamis. The winner was Mariama Jobe.

"Creole is a language that develops where two or more languages and cultures converge via migration or colonialism," says Alex Valencia Rodallac, from the organization Orten i fokus (The Neighborhood in Focus), who was project manager for the contest.

The culture collective Gärigheter also organized a writing workshop for youth built around the Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie's book We Should All Be Feminists, of which a Swedish translation was distributed to all 16-year-old students in the country.

On the basketball court, youth from Stockholm's northwest suburbs as well as the Järva area had a chance to challenge the police, firemen and the youth center Fryshuset in the street basketball contest 3x3. At the opening of the event, Bonnier authors Thomas Olsson, Niklas Krog and Farzad Farzaneh took to the court. Connected to the court were a library and a reading corner.

"We truly believe that basketball and reading go together and that the combination is a good way for us to meet all sort of young people," says Bodil Forsberg Unenge, CSR manager at Bonnierförlagen. "We who work with books and reading see increased competition for young people's time, and books need to get attention in many different places. By making BonnierHoops a fun place to meet, we hope to inspire creative ways of reading and writing."

Supporters of BonnierHoops also includes Järva Basket, Citycon Kista Galleria, Stockholm Stad, Fryshuset, Lugna Gatan, Polisen Rinkeby, Stockholms Brandförsvar, Svenska Kyrkan, Kista träff, Smarteyes, Folksam and Spalding.

Karmo Kaas-Lutsberg is stepping up to be head of Bonnier's B2B business area. He will take over effective immediately and also will be part of Bonnier AB’s executive management team. 

Kaas-Lutsberg has worked within Bonnier since 2008, most recently serving as CFO and CTO of the B2B business area. Previously, he worked in management positions at retailer ICA’s Baltic operations, serving as CFO and country manager in Estonia, and later as Real Estate & Technical Sourcing Director at ICA’s Baltic headquarters in Riga. Further back, he worked as a journalist at Äripäev, Bonnier’s Estonian business daily.

“Karmo has been a central person in Bonnier B2B’s successful turnaround, with steady growth and improved profitability during the past 5-6 years. I have high hopes that the companies within this business area will continue to develop and lead the way in Bonnier’s work to grow our digital revenues,” says Bonnier AB CEO Tomas Franzén. 

“The companies within Bonnier B2B have come a long way in replacing print revenue with digital revenue. More than 50 percent of our sales come from new revenue streams. I am happy to have the opportunity to build on our previous success, together with the rest of the B2B team,” says Kaas-Lutsberg.

Karmo Kaas-Lutsberg succeeds Anders Eriksson, who took over as head of the Bonnier News business area in June.

Bonnier Education has launched the new digital learning materials publisher Clio Online. The learning materials consist of 10 portals for 10 subjects as well as a self-regulating system with assignments for secondary school students.

The new digital materials differ from the typical educational materials used in Swedish schools today. On the subject portals, teachers and students will find finished school-term plans and lots of activities filled with video, audio and photos. 

Clio Online is used today by 90 percent of Denmark's primary schools and with the Swedish launch, teachers from 50 percent of Sweden's schools already applied to test the new learning materials. The first sales are underway to Swedish schools now.

At the company's new Swedish offices, 30 new editors sit creating 11 new subject portals for middle grades, which will be launched at the start of school in 2017.

Swedish teachers can try out Clio Online for free for 30 days. To test it, go to clioonline.se. Or check out Clio Online's page on Facebook. 

The Gothenburg Book Fair has chosen freedom of speech as the theme for 2016. To bring attention to the issue, book publishing group Bonnierförlagen has chosen to focus on four prominent people who have been deprived of the right to express themselves freely. The group is also inviting authors to its stand at the book fair to offer their own interpretations of what freedom of speech means. The results will be auctioned later in the fall with the proceeds going to PEN.

Free speech is key for anyone working in publishing. In Sweden, it's easy to take free speech for granted, but around the world people face long prison sentences, some even condemned to death, for using their pens or expressing their opinions. Often, people are held and charged under false pretences, sometimes without any official charges at all.

During this year's Gothenburg Book Fair, Bonnierförlagen will start each day of the fair with a speaker who will discuss one of the four censored people who've been chosen: Albert Bonnier, head of non-fiction at Bonnierförlagen will discuss Salman Rushdie; Elnaz Baghlanian, editorial director at Atlas will discuss Narges Mohammadi; Ola Larsmo, chair of Swedish PEN will discuss Uma Singh; and Jennifer Clement, chair of PEN International will discuss Ashraf Fayad.

The talks will be published on Bonnierfrölagen's new Selma Stories Facebook page each day at 9 a.m. (Note: Selma Stories, a new platform for booklovers in Sweden, gets its name from early 20th century author and Nobel-prizewinner Selma Lagerlöf.)

"During my years working at Swedish PEN, we could see how threats to authors around the world increased markedly, and regularly under new guises," says Baghlanian. "Every opportunity to bring attention to and inform about this is important, that's why I'm participating in this initiative. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the fundamental role that free speech plays in society. Every author who is threatened, persecuted or imprisoned and every book that is censored or forbidden is a great loss to society."

During the book fair, authors and other creators will be invited to Bonnierförlagen's stand to create their own interpretations of what freedom of speech means. They'll get a pen and paper to start with, but from there it's up to them whether they choose an illustration, a word, a poem or a longer text.

The results will later be auctioned on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, Nov. 15. All proceeds will go to Swedish PEN and its committee for imprisoned writers worldwide.

Swedish TV networks TV4 and C More are now carrying out the biggest effort ever on Swedish national team soccer. In a new agreement with UEFA, TV4 and C More have acquired broadcasting rights for all men’s national team matches from autumn 2018 up to the 2022 World Cup. The rights include the European Qualifiers, World Cup qualifying matches and the important new UEFA Nations League tournament.

Through the deal, TV4 and C More have solidified their position as the No. 1 go-to destination for Swedish soccer fans. The TV4 Group had already secured the rights to broadcast the World Cup and European Championships tournaments in 2018, 2020 and 2022, alongside public service broadcaster SVT.

“For some time, we have deliberately chosen to pass on certain sports rights to instead invest in those we truly believe in," says Casten Almqvist, CEO of TV4 and Bonnier Broadcasting. "Along with Allsvenskan and the recently extended SHL, this is the crowning glory of our strategy. Viewers will find the top Swedish teams and all national team soccer on TV4 and C More for a long time to come."

Kicking off in autumn 2018 and continuing through the 2022 World Cup, the TV4 Group and C More will be the exclusive broadcast home for the Swedish men’s national soccer team, as all national team matches will be broadcast via linear programming on TV4 Group channels and online via C More. This includes the hot new UEFA Nations League tournament, in which national teams will rack up important ranking scores and can also play their way to an extra chance to qualify for EURO 2020. This is the first time UEFA has bundled all national team qualifying, training and preparatory matches in a single rights package.

“This is the biggest, most concentrated investment ever in Swedish national team football," says Erik Westberg, Head of Sports for TV4 and C More. "We are stoked and fully charged to embark on a new journey with the most popular national team in Sweden. On our platforms we will build unique coverage of both Sweden’s games, the qualifiers and the new Uefa National League, and offer our viewers the best soccer in the world."

The four-year agreement covers a total of 1,000 matches. Swedish European Championship and World Cup qualifying matches will be shown on TV4 and major countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands will play on TV12. All qualifying matches will be streamed with no interruptions on C More.

The TV4 Group had already secured the rights to EURO 2020, alongside the public broadcaster Swedish Television (SVT). TV4 and SVT have also signed an agreement with FIFA for the men’s soccer championships on all platforms for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017 and 2021 and the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a championship that TV4/C More will be broadcasting exclusively.

Earlier in September, C More finalized long-term agreements with SHL, HockeyAllsvenskan and the highest leagues in handball and rink bandy. This means that all the top leagues in the biggest Swedish sports are now available on C More along with all Swedish and European national team soccer.

SF Studios board of directors has appointed Michael Porseryd as new CEO for the company. He will join the company during the first quarter of 2017. With its nearly 100-year-old legacy, SF Studios is the Nordic region’s leading film company, producing and distributing commercial high-quality films and TV drama for the Nordic and international markets.

Porseryd has held numerous leading positions in the Swedish and Nordic media industry. As Nordic CEO for the global production company Endemol, he built up its Nordic operation between 2010 and 2015. Prior to that, he held various top management positions, including COO and Executive Vice President at Metronome Film & Television, as well as a number of CEO positions at MTG, with their subsidiaries Viasat, TV8 and ZTV. 

“I’m extremely pleased and very excited to be entrusted with this opportunity," says Michael Porseryd. "SF Studios has a fantastic legacy of producing and distributing content. I strongly believe in their well-defined strategy where content continues to be core as well as their focus on investing in new distribution channels and production of films and TV series for even wider audiences. I really look forward to work together with the talented team in the company."

“Michael has a long, solid and well documented experience in the industry, including production and the acquisition of film and TV rights. I’m convinced that he, together with the SF Studios team and partners in the Swedish and Nordic film community, has what it takes to continue to build and develop SF Studios into Europe’s most exciting film studio,” says Ulrika Saxon, Bonnier’s representative on the board of directors of SF Studios. 

Read more in a press release.

With younger viewers leaving public social media - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - to use private message apps like Snapchat and Messenger, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Charlie Sheen and Justin Bieber have launched emojis and stickers with cartoon images of themselves. And now Lilla Nymo (that's Little Nymo in English), mascot for the Swedish morning magazine program Nyhetsmorgon, is getting her own set of 24 cartoon stickers for the iOS Messenger app. Which makes TV4 and Bonnier Broadcasting the first media company in Sweden to focus on this kind of digital content.

"We use a test-measure-learn method," says Casten Almqvist, CEO for Bonnier Broadcasting. "Now we've come so far in our digital transformation that innovation is a given within our whole organization. Lilla Nymoji is a shining example of how great it is when we work fast, across departments and with a drive to get things out."

The Lilla Nymoji project is part of Bonnier Broadcasting's ongoing innovation work. As part of the process of development, the project found that Nyhetsmorgon is particularly relevant for young women aged 16-26, a group that are big users of private messaging apps. 

The creative duo of Catherina Barnard and Oscar Sivertzen are behind the work fo TV4, while the emoji sticker packet was designed by agency Bold and illustrators Fellow Designers.

Lilla Nymoji is already available via iOS Messenger in the iMessage Store via the App Store for users who hae installed iOS 10.

With smartphones an ever more integral part of kids’ lives, German book publisher Carlsen Verlag is using its experience and know-how to launch a new text adventure app for smartphones aimed at teenagers: Mission X.

Developed together with game developers Experimental Game Studio, Mission X combines exciting texts and playful aspects into an interactive storyline: the readers themselves decide on the progress of the story, arriving at specific actions with different ends. The text is combined with features (sounds, graphic elements and notifications), which ensure a realistic playing experience in real time. A sharing function enables direct exchange via social media. And the app will be available in German, Spanish and English.

"With Mission X, we want to make young people's reading on their smartphones enjoyable," says Mareike Hermes, Head of Business Development at Carlsen. "Storytelling meets gaming here. As new consumer habits bring new challenges for authors and publishers, we need to use our expertise to open up further perspectives in product development. "

The technical concept for Mission X was developed together with the Experimental Game Studio, which implemented Carlsen’s demands innovative programming that would highlight the dramaturgy and interactivity of the story.

Mission X is being shown as a demo at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Carlsen will launch the first X-text adventure, "Dark Ride," in November 2016 for iOS.

The Android version will be released early next year. Further titles for both formats are already in preparation. Find out more at www.missionX.de. 

The finalists for the Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism were named at a press conference today. The award categories include Storyteller of the Year, Innovator of the Year and Scoop of the Year and newly inaugurated in conjunction with the 50th anniversity of the establishment of the prize, Voice of the Year.

Storyteller of the Year

Innovator of the Year

Scoop of the Year

Mattias Carlsson and Mikael Delin, Dagens Nyheter
National Audit Office
The jury wrote: "With irreproachable zeal, they revealed how a system change led to a system fail among the watchdogs of power."

Richard Aschberg, Aftonbladet
Municipal
The jury wrote: "In a spectacular reveal, he has shown how the waste, greed and gluttony of elected officials led to a black hole of shattered confidence."

The winners will be announced  at an awards ceremony and dinner on Nov. 23 in Stockholm. Read more (in Swedish).

Today on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a charity auction open to all is being held featuring artwork created by writers, illustrators, poets and cartoonists created in celebration of free speech. The money collected will go to PEN Sweden, an organization giving voice to writers who are persecuted or imprisoned for their opinons.

The art was created at this year's Göteborg Book Fair, where freedom of speech was the theme. To highlight this, Swedish book publishing group Bonnierförlagen invited writers and illustrators to create something with freedom of speech as the point of reference. The response was huge and resulted in over 30 pieces, which are now being auctioned with proceeds going to PEN Sweden.

One piece being auctioned is a four-meter-long wall painting by popular Swedish artist Jesper Waldersten. Other authors and illustrators with works being auctioned include Elaine Eksvärd, Kakan Hermansson, Per Wästbnerg, Stina Wirsén, Elin Olofsson, Malin Persson Giolito, Annika Lantz, Jennifer Clement, Johanna Ekström, Sofil Oksanen, Anna Åhlund, Jens Lapidus and Johan Unenge, among others.

"My piece is about the flow," says Waldersten, describing the connection of his work and the connection to freedom of speech. "That you don't need to be scared of my words. That despite dark times there is still room for humor and warmth. That we need to pick ourselves up and move forward with the feet we've got."

The auction prices start from SEK 1 to SEK 100,000. The auction starts today and continues for a week under a cooperation with tradera.com.

You can take part in the auction here.

Charlotte Svensson, currently head of reader revenues and digital development at Bonnier News, will be adding to her duties starting Nov. 23 as she takes on the role of CTO for Bonnier AB.

As CTO, she will be working with increasing collaboration and synergies among Bonnier’s business areas regarding operation and development of technical platforms, such as advertising technology, among other areas.

Says Tomas Franzén, CEO for Bonnier AB: “Charlotte Svensson has long and solid experience heading operations and development within the business area News, and previously in a number of roles at the crux of technology and business development. I’m convinced that Charlotte will contribute to our goal of improving cost-efficiency while at the same time providing smart technical support for our new businesses.”

Says Svensson: “I’ve switched between specialist roles with high technology content and management positions, and I’m a bit of a tech nerd who loves business. I look forward to having one foot in News, and one foot in the headquarters, working with the group-wide Technology Council. In this way I can actively contribute to identifying and taking advantage of synergies among our different businesses, and developing smart common technology platforms for our advertising offer.”

Since 2010, Svensson has led IT and digital development first at Dagens Nyheter and then for the entire News business area. Prior to that, she has was CEO for consulting agency Invoiceit, and has held management positions within IT and business development at Intrum Justitia and Spray Razorfish, among others.

This year, Sweden's top prize for journalists celebrates its 50th year. Winners for 2016 were announced at an awards ceremony earlier this evening before some 300 of the country's leading media personalities. The ceremony was live broadcast on leading media sites.

Winner of Voice of the Year
Niklas Orrenius
The jury wrote:A tireless journalist who in his flawless style researches and documents the most difficult problems of our time. 

Winner of Storyteller of the Year
Negra Efendić
I Was Exactly Like You
The jury wrote: In her reportage, she returns to her own escape, and with an unsentimental gaze portrays the lasting impression war leaves on a child while giving life to the people behind the news.

Winner of Innovator of the Year
Helena Bengtsson
The jury wrote: An international star of data journalism, she hits scoops where others see only ones and zeroes. 

Winner of Scoop of the Year
Bosse Lindquist, SVT 
The Experiment
The jury wrote: With masterful storytelling, he has gotten to the bottom of fraudelent research and revealed life-threatening ambition in the academic world.  

Winner of Lukas Bonnier's Grand Prize for Journalism
Karin Thunberg
The jury wrote: The master of the profile, who with perfect stylistic pitch and almost magical craftsmanship, unveils the deeply human - within each of us. 

The award ceremony was officiated by Jonas Bonnier, chairman of the jury. Program host for the evening was Anna Hedenmo, journalist and program presenter at Swedish Television. This year's international guest of honor at the ceremony was the legendary Scottish journalist and presenter Kirsty Wark of BBC Newsnight, discussing the terms of news reporting in a new political climate. Abdullah Bozkurt, who for twenty years working as a journalist, foreign correspondent and bureau chief of the leading Turkish daily newspaper Zaman, spoke of the alarming situation of media freedom in Turkey.