TOKYO -- Nikkei Inc. on Wednesday received Japan's top media award for its feature series investigating the issue of internet data and privacy and shedding light on the social and economic implications of the rise of global technology platforms such as Google and Facebook. 

The award in the editorial division was announced by the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association. The leading Japanese business daily received a prize in the marketing field as well, for its initiative to incorporate digital technology in its print advertisements, which has helped increase its advertising operations transparency for advertisers. The award ceremony will be held in Miyazaki, southern Japan, on Oct. 16.

The feature series, titled "The Data Century," examined how the large amount of personal data being generated via the internet is now used by platform operators and what problems are being created as a result. The investigative series examines how data is being gathered by global platforms, such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon -- collectively known as GAFA -- and presented the complex issue to lay readers in an accessible manner by relating personal episodes of the reporters themselves. 

The marketing award was given for technology Nikkei has developed to measure the effectiveness of print ads and make the results transparent to advertisers. The technology aims to quantify the effectiveness of an advertisement by looking at how readers have navigated the digital replica of the print version available to online subscribers.