ONA Local meet-ups abound this week, including a first — ONA Pittsburgh. Don’t see one in your area? Check out the ONA Local Locator or think about starting your own group.

Meet the AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholars
Get inspired by the six winners of the new AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholarship for the 2012-13 academic year. Each of these undergrad and graduate students received $20,000 in recognition of their innovative projects that blend news-making with computer science. We’re highlighting a scholar each day this week; see profiles of Katie Zhu, Rebecca Rolfe and John Osborn and check journalists.org throughout the week. And keep an eye out for applications for the 2013-14 academic year to open April 30. You could be the next scholar!

ONA12 Session Selector voting closes April 12
Just two more days left to vote on the conference sessions community members submitted through the ONA12 Session Selector. Did you submit a session? Now is a perfect time to let your networks know and ask them to upvote your idea. After April 12, the ONA12 program committee will take the voting results and commenting into consideration when making final session decisions.

There’s just two days left to apply for the Student Newsroom at the Online News Association’s annual conference, Sept. 20-22, in San Francisco. Application deadline is 6 p.m. ET, March 29.

One week left to apply for the ONA12 Student Newsroom
We’re accepting applications for the ONA12 Student Newsroom until March 29. The 20 selected students get to report on ONA12, network with the top minds in digital media, work with other talented student journalists and receive an all-expense trip to San Francisco, courtesy of a Google sponsorship.

ONA12 registration opens April 10
Registration for the 2012 Online News Association Conference and Awards opens soon. There’s a lot to do while you’re waiting. Help us refine the conference by voting on sessions submitted through the ONA12 Session Selector. Interested in speaking at the conference? Speaker applications are due by March 27. And don’t forget to register on April 10 to join the top minds in journalism Sept. 20-22 in San Francisco. Connect with journalists and technologists from around the world, as well as the Bay Area’s innovative media, tech and entrepreneur communities and the hundreds of biotech and information technology companies that are thriving in Silicon Valley.

New deadline for Session Selector submissions: March 15
What do you want to hear from the top minds in digital media? What can you teach journalists, technologists and entrepreneurs? Submit a session idea or apply to speak at ONA12. Extended deadline is March 15. After voting closes, the ONA community will vote on the proposed sessions. Voting opens March 20 and closes April 12.

ONAvation Webinar: Comics and Illustrated Journalism
Interested in visual storytelling? ONA members get a discounted registration to our upcoming ONAvation webinar on April 5, in partnership with Poynter’s NewsU, in which Erin Polgreen, recent winner of the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative, will show you how to incorporate new forms of visual narrative, including comics and illustration, into your newsroom. She’ll talk about the types of stories that can be turned into effective illustrated journalism and you’ll see some concrete examples of successful (and not-so-successful) projects. ONA members price: $9.95. Non-member price: $29.95. Not a member? Join here.

Help us retool the Online Journalism Awards
The Online Journalism Awards committee is getting ready for submissions later this year, and we’re asking for your input to help us in updating how we categorize organizations. Please take this short survey — it will go a long way toward making sure the OJAs keep pace in reflecting the state of the industry.

ONA12 Session Selector open
We know you have ideas for sessions at the 2012 Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet, Sept. 20-22, in San Francisco. Good news: Our Session Selector is now open and you’re officially invited to submit session proposals for consideration in the ONA12 program or apply to be a speaker. Deadline for session proposals is March 1, deadline for speaker applications is March 27.

Jim Brady elected ONA president

Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief, Digital First Media, was elected President at the ONA’s January Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C. Jim, who is in his fourth term as a Board member, has held the offices of Treasurer and Vice President over the past three years, and has chaired or served on many key committees, including Legal Affairs and Strategy.

Joining Jim as officers of the organization are: Meredith Artley, Vice President & Managing Editor, CNN Digital, elected Vice President; Jody Brannon, in the second year of her two-year term as Treasurer; and Will Sullivan, Director of Mobile News, Lee Enterprises, elected Secretary.

ONA joins Reporters Committee, news orgs in asking Supreme Court for audio, video coverage of health care reform arguments
The Online News Association has added its name to a letter from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, asking the Court to allow audio and video recording of upcoming oral arguments in the three cases involving proposed federal health care legislation.

“Because the health care reform law deeply affects millions of Americans, there likely will be a strong interest nationwide in closely following the proceedings as, or shortly after, they occur,” the Reporters Committee letter stated. “As such, the Court’s current policy of releasing audio recordings of arguments at the end of the week will not adequately satisfy this strong public interest in being timely informed of important developments in a matter of such overwhelming impact on such a widespread scale.”

The letter also noted that delaying the release of argument recordings “will impede journalists’ ability to provide same-day coverage of the arguments.” Read the full Reporters Committee letter and list of partner media organizations here.

ONA Local

ONA NYC panel: CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien, Entrepreneur Hank Williams, Jason Samuels, Lead Producer of CNN’s “In America” documentary unit, and Mario Armstrong, radio and TV host.

ONA NYC, in partnership with Time Warner’s Office of Corporate Responsibility Group and Time Warner/Turner/Time Inc. Black Employee affiliate groups, hosted over 200 people for a Screening & Discussion with Soledad O’Brien, “Black in America – Silicon Valley,” last night at the Time Warner Center. Be sure to check out the event and documentary’s hashtag #BlackinAmerica and tune in to CNN Nov. 13 at 8 pm ET to watch the film. To learn more about the group and for notices of future events, join the Meetup group.

Mario Tedeschini-Lalli named ONA Board member
Announced during the Online News Association Conference in Boston: Mario Tedeschini-Lalli, ONA Local Italy Chair, has been appointed to the Board as our first international director.

Mario is Deputy Director, Innovation and Development, at the Italian media company Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso. He went digital in 1997, after many years in print journalism as a reporter and an editor, mostly covering foreign affairs. He has been managing editor of Repubblica.it, CNNitalia.it, and Kataweb.it, where he led a small team experimenting with multimedia narratives. He is also a part-time teacher of Digital Journalism and History of Journalism, and writes a blog, “Giornalismo d’altri,” on foreign journalism.