Editor's note: Backstory is Onmanorama's special year-ender video series. Here, our reporters recall their memorable experiences in 2019. Watch all videos here.
This year, Onmanorama won huge praise for its election coverage. We won appreciation even from our critics.
It was the result of an year-long hard work by an enthusiastic team.
Being an active member of the team, I will always cherish the experiences of that fabulous election coverage.
Our preparations actually began one year in advance.
We began with data collection in June 2018.
As you know, collecting data from all 543 parliament seat was a humongous task. No wonder it continued till December.
Our ideation for the polling day special site began in January.
All we wanted to give our audience a simple, easy to understand and comprehensive site.
We shortlisted five designs. It was followed by testing and re-testing. By the first week of May, we decided to use multi-stage site.
It had all details of national scene with a special focus on Kerala results. We also had a section explaining the performances of alliances.
On the counting day, the team worked 15 hours non-stop to provide uninterrupted poll coverage.
We received over a billion page views apart from winning accolades from our readers.
In hindsight, I feel that it was the most challenging assignment in my journalistic career so far. But we made it a rewarding experience, thanks to our team effort.
(This story was first published on January 1, 2020.)