Rules & Eligibility
Calls for awards entry in 2013 will open in the spring.
The rules and eligibility requirements for the 2012 Online Journalism Awards are listed below. Send any specific questions about rules and eligibility to awards@journalists.org.
Eligibility
General Eligibility
The Online Journalism Awards are open to websites, areas of websites and all digital platforms, including smart phones, e-readers and tablets, where journalists have originated the content or selected and amplified it. Search services, portal sites and wire services may submit content they created that fits the eligibility requirements. Individuals and organizations may enter the contest. Self-nominations are welcome. Online retailers and advertising sites are not eligible.
Publication date
The 2012 Online Journalism Awards are open to work published between June 16, 2011, and June 15, 2012. Entries must be available online for one year from date of submission.
Deadline
The extended deadline for entry is June 27, 2012, 11:59 p.m. ET.
Student eligibility
Students are welcome to submit work to any category. However, to be eligible in a student-specific category, entrants must meet the following requirements:
To be considered for a student award, the entire project must have been produced only by enrolled and uncompensated students receiving academic credit for the work being entered. (Scholarships are not considered compensation.) Students can be full- or part-time; graduate, undergraduate or high school students. Work produced for pay, either for a professional media organization or through a grant of another client, should be entered in the appropriate professional category.
Submitting to a student category and checking the box to agree to the terms of the awards affirms that the work was done by students. The entrant may be contacted to explain any professional or professorial involvement.
Size categories
Categories for the 2012 Online Journalism Awards are divided by size, defined by the number of full-time employees dedicated to editorial efforts.
- Small: For an entrant to be considered “small,” the number of staff dedicated to editorial efforts must be fewer than 25 FTEs.
- Medium: For an entrant to be considered “medium,” the number of staff dedicated to editorial efforts must be more than 25 FTEs, but fewer than 100 FTEs.
- Large: For an entrant to be considered “large,” the number of staff dedicated to editorial efforts must be greater than 100 FTEs.
A note about partnerships: If a project is the product of a partnership of two or more organizations, enter the project into the size category corresponding to the combined number of FTEs of the partner organizations.
Submitting entries
Entries must be submitted through online entry forms. To enter, fill out entry forms for all entries across all categories. Then pay for the total number of awards entries. Entry fees are listed below.
Entries for the 2012 Online Journalism Awards are closed.
Technical Innovation Award eligibility
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. The publication date restrictions do not apply to entrants for this award; instead, judges will weigh the breadth and timeliness of an entrant’s impact on the journalistic community.
Requirements
Review all entry requirements for each category before submitting an entry. Requirements vary depending on the category. Basic requirements include a URL where the entry is live and a username and password if the entry requires a subscription or registration. Requirements can be found on the categories page.
If an entry exists on a platform that is not available via a desktop computer, such as a smartphone or tablet application, entrants should provide a URL to a marketplace page where the application can be downloaded free of charge. If applicants are submitting entries that should be viewed through a smartphone browser, such as a mobile web page, please denote that in your entry title.
Multiple entries
If submitting multiple entries (either in the same category or across multiple categories), fill out entry forms for each entry, then make one purchase for all of the entries you submitted.
Editing entries
Entries cannot be saved and edited at a later date, so be sure to have all information related to the entry before starting.
Corrections cannot be made to entries after submitting. Please verify that all the information in your entry is correct before submitting.
Payment
Entry fees
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. If you’d like to become an ONA member, join here.
For consideration in multiple categories, or to enter multiple projects, you must pay for those additional entries.
Student and sole practitioner discounts
Student or sole practitioner entrants must use a discount code when making the entry purchase. The codes are OJAstudent for students and OJAsole for sole practitioners.
A sole practitioner is defined as a single journalist whose website 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.
Entries will be reviewed to ensure that the entrant qualifies for the discount. Other entrants making use of the discount codes will be disqualified.
Note: Right now, a student or sole practitioner discount can only apply to one entry at a time, not a group of entries. To enter multiple entries with the student or sole practitioner discount, you’ll need to make separate payments. We’re working to correct this.
How to pay
In order to receive the member rate, first sign in to members.journalists.org.
Payment should be made online by credit card. If you are unable to pay by credit card, you may pay by check or money order. Email Sean Connolly at awards@journalists.org with the subject line “OJA 2012: Payment by mail” to receive a printable payment form and a code to allow you to fill out the online entry form.
Checks should be made payable to the Online News Association. Include the payment form and mail the check to:
Online News Association
P.O. Box 65741
Washington, DC 20035
ATTN: Online Journalism Awards
Judging
Judges are a group of distinguished online journalists from around the world. Winners are determined by two rounds of judging. Judges assigned to each category will narrow down the entries to a group of finalists. These judges will then meet in person to select the winners.
Judges may move an entry from one category to another. In these cases, the judges will make a determination on where the entry fits best.
Legal
Copyright and right of use
Entrants agree to the terms below upon submitting an entry to the Online Journalism Awards:
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.
