Online Journalism Awards: Awards competition now open

The Fifth Annual Online Journalism Awards competition opened July 6, 2004, and will accept entries through August 13, 2004. All entries must be submitted via the Web using our online entry form, which has been improved and clarified this year.

The competition is for work published between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004.

REVISED RULES

In response to the growth and development of online news since the award’s inception in 2000, the Online News Association this year has made several changes in the competition’s rules and categories. As you prepare your entries for submission, please note that:

The ONA has eliminated the Features category and established a Specialty Journalism category to recognize Web sites and subsites that focus on a specific area of content, such as entertainment, sports, business, lifestyles, etc.
The ONA has added two categories designed to honor student work.
The ONA has eliminated the “Independent” and “Affiliated” distinctions within the contest categories. In prior years, awards were given in several categories to sites that produced content independently of any other media organization and to those with affiliations to other media organizations. Under the new rules, sites will be categorized by size (more than / fewer than 500,000 unique visitors/month), but there will be no distinction made by affiliate relationship.
Entry fees: In the past, sites have been allowed to enter up to three different stories/packages in several categories for a single entry fee. In response to participant feedback, most categories now allow a single entry per fee (a notable exception is Creative Use of the Medium). Entrants should check the rules for each category carefully.

CATEGORIES

There are nine categories in the 2004 Online Journalism Awards Competition:

General Excellence in Online Journalism: This category honors a Web site that successfully fulfills its editorial mission, effectively serves its audience, maximizes the use of the Web's characteristics and represents the highest journalistic standards. The sites will be judged on excellence of content, interactivity, multimedia, design, navigation and community tools. An entry may consist of one main URL and up to three additional sub-URLs in the same domain (to highlight specific features). Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors) .
Breaking News: This category honors coverage by a site staff of a breaking-news event or development. Judges will weigh evidence — including screen shots — of exceptional reporting under deadline pressure, clear presentation and creative use of the medium (including updating of and additions to text and visual sidebar elements within the 24-hour period following the original event). An entry will consist of a single piece, series or package on the same event or development. Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors).
Specialty Journalism: This category honors Web sites and subsites that focus on a specific area of content, such as entertainment, sports, business, lifestyles, etc. The entries will be judged both on their journalism and on their use of the interactive medium. An entry will consist of one URL. Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors).
Enterprise Journalism: This category honors stories that uncover major news based on the reporters' own exclusive investigations or that offer compelling and original analysis and interpretation. Clear presentation, creative use of the medium and a measure of the impact of the publication will be considered. An entry will consist of a single piece, series or package on the same subject. Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors).
Service Journalism: This category honors journalism that sheds light on a single topic that helps visitors improve the quality of their lives (including, but not limited to health, personal finance, education, consumerism, relationships and family). Emphasis will be placed on the entry's use of interactivity, personalization and/or community tools. An entry will consist of a single piece, series or package on the same topic. Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors).
Online Commentary: This category honors a unique and powerful voice of commentary original to the Web. The commentary should display freshness of insight and clear writing. Creative use of the medium — especially in the areas of blogging and community journalism — will be considered. A writer's entry may consist of up to three examples. (Print syndication after Web posting does not disqualify an entry.) Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors).
Creative Use of the Medium: This category honors achievement by a site in the combined use of audio and/or visual techniques, design, navigation, multimedia, interactivity and community to tell a story and serve a community. Emphasis will be placed on visitor experience as well as on innovative use of technology. You may submit two entries for a single entry fee, each of which consists of a single story, a series, a package or an information application. Two prizes: Large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors) and Small sites (less than 500,000 unique visitors).
Student journalism: This category honors excellence in online journalism by a student or team reporting on a single story or issue. The work must have appeared originally in a Web site and have been created by full-time student(s) (at the time of publication). Work produced while working as a student intern is acceptable, but unpublished entries do not qualify. One prize.
Student Web site: For overall excellence in an online news Web site by a staff of student journalists. The sites will be judged on excellence of content, interactivity, multimedia, design, navigation and community tools. One prize.

PERMISSION FOR USE

By submitting an entry to the Online News Association in connection with the Online Journalism Awards, you grant ONA, and its current and future affiliates, the right to republish the entry (including text, graphics, art, photography, video, audio, and any other elements) in any and all media in connection with the Online Journalism Awards and/or any ONA archives of OJA entries, finalists and/or winners, and/or in connection with ONA's educational projects for journalists and aspiring journalists.

By submitting this entry, you further represent and warrant that the entry is original work, that you have the right to submit the work as an entry in the Online Journalism Awards, and that you have the right to grant ONA and its affiliates the rights granted above.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Entry Form: All entries must be submitted via the Web using our online entry form, which will be available through http://www.journalist.org as of July 6, 2004. You will be asked to provide specific URLs for live stories or URLs of archived stories where appropriate.

Availability: Entries must be available online for one year from date of submission.

Additional Remarks: As in past years, the entry form will ask you to provide "additional remarks" to explain your entries. In particular:

Submissions for General Excellence will be asked to explain the site's mission and how the work presented accomplishes that mission.

Submissions for the remaining categories will be asked to indicate why the entry merits an award in the given category, including information about how the story was reported and produced. For entries submitted by sites that are owned by or affiliated with larger media organizations that have offline publications or TV or radio news outlets, the entrant will be asked to describe whether the work was produced originally for the Web site or was created in another medium and then adapted for the Web; what portions of the story or package originally appeared in a newspaper, radio broadcast or TV show; and what portions (if any) were exclusively produced for the Web. If this information is not provided, judges will assume that the entire work is repackaged from another medium.

If your Web site requires a subscription or registration, you will be asked to provide a username and password that all judges can use.

Entry Fees: In each category, one fee covers the number of entries specified within that category's rules (please check individual categories carefully).

Media institutions whose Web properties have more than 500,000 unique visitors per month*: US $120 per entry.

Media institutions whose Web properties have 500,000 or fewer unique visitors per month*: US $100 per entry.

Individuals (self-nominations welcome): US $80 for ONA members, per entry; US $100 for non-members, per entry.

* Please note: Unlike in prior years, all entrants will be required to report the number of unique visitors per month as determined by an independent Web rating service. You will be asked to enter the number of unique visitors for the most recent month available, as well as the source of the ratings data, on the entry form.

If you are nominating on behalf of an organization and are an ONA member, you will still need to pay the organization rate.

Payment: You will be able to pay fees online via credit card or send a check/money order/draft in U.S. currency. Checks should be made to The Online News Association, and should be sent to The Online News Association, P.O. Box 30702, Bethesda, MD 20824.