Competition is for work published between June 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 .

Deadline for the competition is June 30, 2009July 8, 2009.

Eligibility
The Online Journalism Awards are open only to Web sites -- or areas of Web sites -- where journalists have originated the content or selected and amplified it. The primary purpose of the site must be to inform rather than sell products or promote a business (online retailers and advertising sites are not eligible). Search services and portal sites, as well as wire services, may submit content they created that fits the eligibility requirements. For the Technical Innovation award, any company, journalistic in focus or not, may enter a digital tool it created which, in the company's estimation significantly enhances the practice of online journalism.

Individuals and organizations may enter the contest. Self-nominations are welcome. Nominators who are ONA members receive a discount. (Entry fees are explained below.)

Judging
Winners are determined by a two-step process. A set of screeners, working remotely, will narrow down the entries to a group of finalists in each category. These screeners are online journalists from around the world. Then the judges of the Online Journalism Awards, a group of distinguished journalists, will meet in person to select the winners.

Submitting Entries
Entries must be submitted via the Web using our online entry form at JournalistAwards.org. You will be asked to provide specific URLs for entries which are live, or screenshots or URLs of archived entries where appropriate.

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

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

Entrants should carefully review the detailed descriptions for each award category before submitting an entry, because specific entry requirements differ depending on the type.

Copyright and Right of Use
By submitting an entry in the Online Journalism Awards competition, you grant the Online News Association (and ONA's co-sponsor(s) of the Online Journalism Awards, if any) the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display your entry and/or excerpts from your entry in any and all media: in connection with or to promote the Online Journalism Awards; in any archives composed in whole or in part of Online Journalism Awards entries, finalists, and/or winners; and/or in connection with educational projects for journalists, aspiring journalists, and/or the general public.

By submitting an entry, you 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 ONA's co-sponsor(s) of the Online Journalism Awards, if any) and the rights granted above.

Metrics
All entrants will be required to enter the number of unique visitors to the parent Web site where the entry appeared for the most recent month available.

If your entry was published only as non-commissioned "user submitted" content to another Web site, and that Web site did not make editorial changes or provide journalistic oversight, you should enter in the smallest available category. (So please enter a number less than 100,000 as the number of monthly uniques.)

Entry Fees
The fee structure has changed for 2009. Entry fees are $175 per category for non-members or $100 per category for ONA members. Entry fees for students and sole practitioners are $125 per category for non-members or $50 per category for ONA members. A sole practitioner is defined as a single journalist whose Web site does not employ any other individuals (unless on a freelance or contract basis) and whose digital work submitted for the OJAs was not done under the auspices of another journalistic organization.

Payment
Payment may be made online via credit card, or by check/money order/draft in U.S. currency. Checks should be made payable to the Online News Association, and sent to: