The Straits Times website www.straitstimes.com has come in first in the local news and current affairs category of trade magazine Marketing's recent Digital Media of the Year survey.

Across multiple categories, the websites of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and wholly-owned subsidiary SPH Magazines were top picks with advertisers and marketers for their digital media campaigns.

The survey polled 900 industry professionals, including decision- makers and director-level marketers. About 73 per cent of client-advertiser respondents were at the manager level and above, with almost half of those - 47 per cent - from the most senior ranks.

Advertisers from major banks, fast-moving consumer goods companies, property and construction companies, information technology and telecommunications firms, and travel and tourism companies were polled.

To sweeten The Straits Times' first-place finish, SPH online portal AsiaOne was in third place in the local news and current affairs category. Channel NewsAsia came in second.

The Business Times' website topped the local business and finance category for the second consecutive year.

In the women's category, SPH Magazines websites - herworldPLUS and Cleo - came in first and third respectively.

Young Parents topped the parenting category, while Men's Health and The Peak came in second in the men and luxury categories respectively.

In the motor vehicles category, sgCarMart emerged first, while print magazine Torque's website by SPH Magazines was the runner-up.

Said Mr Warren Fernandez, editor-in-chief of SPH's English, Malay and Tamil Media group and editor of The Straits Times: "We are thankful that our partners in the marketing and advertising industries have rated us highly. We are happy that ST came out tops for news and current affairs and AsiaOne did well too, as did BT.

"Our primary focus has always been on striving to serve our readers well. That's what makes us interesting to advertisers, who come to us because they know we are able to draw an audience that they want to reach out to."

Mr Julian Tan, executive vice-president of SPH's digital division, said: "Having many of our online properties ranked highly in their respective categories of the survey is a strong signal to us that we are well regarded by decision- makers and industry professionals.

"This is proof that our media offerings have allowed advertisers and clients to achieve concrete and effective results."