Author: Jeremiah Patterson

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Finalists for the 2016 Online Journalism Awards, representing a wide range of nonprofit, public, academic, major media and emerging technology organizations from around the globe, were announced today by the Online News Association.

Twelve of the awards now come with $53,500 in prize money, courtesy of Knight Foundation, the Gannett Foundation and the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. These awards honor data journalism, visual digital storytelling, investigative journalism, public service, technical innovation, student journalism and general excellence.

This year’s awards reflect a deeper consideration of how newsrooms engage their audiences, focusing on the emerging prevalence of new digital tools, distribution channels and content platforms. The second James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting will again honor one of the many journalists reporting under the most challenging conditions; a special committee will select the recipient.

“The range of this year’s finalists is truly remarkable,” said David Smydra, ONA Board member and Online Journalism Awards Committee Chair. “In so many respects — newsroom size, geography, subject matter, platform, technology, storytelling techniques and more — judges were extremely impressed by the full scope and achievements of digital journalists across the industry.”

A group of 76 industry-leading journalists and new media professionals teamed up to screen 1,029 entries and select semi-finalists. Twenty judges representing a diverse cross-section of the industry then conferred to determine finalists and winners.

The winners will be announced at the 2016 ONA Conference and Online Journalism Awards Banquet on Saturday, Sept. 17, in Denver.

The finalists, many of whom push the envelope of innovation and excellence in digital storytelling and distribution, are:

Breaking News, Medium

• San Bernardino Terrorist Attack, The Sun (San Bernardino) & Southern California News Group
• An Occupation in Eastern Oregon, OPB – Oregon Public Broadcasting
• Emanuel AME Church Killings, The Post and Courier

Breaking News, Large

• Paris Terrorist Attacks, CNN
• San Bernardino Terrorist Attack, Los Angeles Times
• Paris Attacks, The New York Times

Breaking News, Small

No finalists

Planned News/Events, Small

• Campaign 2016: The Candidates & the World, Council on Foreign Relations
• The New Hampshire Primary,  NHPR – New Hampshire Public Radio

Planned News/Events, Medium

• One Year in Ferguson, St. Louis Public Radio
• For Peshawar, The Express Tribune

Planned News/Events, Large

• US Election Primaries, The Guardian US
• The Election, The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting, Small

• Pulp Fiction, Climate Central
• Video Explainers, Grist
• The Population Bomb?, Retro Report
• Unequal Risk, The Center for Public Integrity

Explanatory Reporting, Medium

• The Circuit: Tracking America’s Electronic Waste, KCTS9, OPB – Oregon Public Broadcasting and EarthFix
• Killing the Colorado, ProPublica and Matter
• Shocking Force, The Baltimore Sun
• The Price of Admission, The Texas Tribune and REVEAL, from the Center for Investigative Reporting
• How The Iowa Democratic Caucus Works, Featuring Legos, Vermont Public Radio

Explanatory Reporting, Large

• What Is Code?, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Digital
• The Upshot, Inequality, The New York Times
• 2050 Demographics, The Wall Street Journal
• America’s Great Housing Divide, The Washington Post
• An Exploration Into Medical Errors, Vox.com

Topical Reporting, Small

• Hawaii Behind Bars, Honolulu Civil Beat
• God & Governing: How Texas Legislators’ Religious Beliefs Guide Their Lawmaking, The Texas Tribune

Topical Reporting, Medium

• Reliving Agent Orange, ProPublica and The Virginian-Pilot
• Violence in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun
• Student Voices in a Tumultuous Year, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Topical Reporting, Large

• #OscarsSoWhite, Los Angeles Times
• Missing and Murdered, The Globe and Mail
• The County, The Guardian US

Online Commentary

• Boston Globe Ideas, The Boston Globe
• The Real Miss America, Mashable
• A Conversation on Race, The New York Times

Sports, Small

• Blood and Sport, Retro Report
• Disqualified After Concussions, College Football Players Recruited Back Onto the Field, STAT

Sports, Medium

• Going For Eleven: UConn Women Win The 2016 NCAA Tournament, Hartford Courant
• Becoming Royal, The Kansas City Star – McClatchy

Sports, Large

• BBC Winners – Silvana Lima, BBC World Service
• Sports Visualization, The New York Times

Feature, Small

• The Harbor: This Waianae Homeless Camp Is Not What You’d Expect, Honolulu Civil Beat
• The Doctor, The Atavist Magazine

Feature, Medium

• Inheritance, FRONTLINE
• Unsettled Journeys, The Baltimore Sun
• The Downloaders, Verdens Gang

Feature, Large

• Cosby: The Women, New York Magazine
• The Life and Times of Strider Wolf, The Boston Globe
• Ground Water, The Desert Sun and USA TODAY
• Taken Hostage, The Wall Street Journal

The David Teeuwen Student Journalism Award, Small

• Chasing Lithium, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
• The Wait: Inside the Lives of Asylum Seekers in Germany, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
• Transplanted: How Undocumented Immigrants With Terminal Kidney Failure Fight To Navigate a Health Care System That Doesn’t Acknowledge They Exist, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

The David Teeuwen Student Journalism Award, Large

• NYC Values, NYU Journalism, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
• This is a Canadian Issue: Reflecting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, Ryerson University, School of Journalism
• Bordering on the American Dream, Texas Christian University
• All My Intimate Relations: Stories of Indigenous Sexuality, UBC Graduate School of Journalism

Pro-Am Student Award

• America’s Weed Rush, Carnegie-Knight News21 Initiative, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University
• Bridging Selma, Morgan State University School of Global Journalism and Communication and West Virginia University Reed College of Media
• Return to Chernobyl, NYU Journalism – Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and FRONTLINE
• Out of the Shadows, UBC Graduate School of Journalism

The University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism, Small/Medium

• Surgeon Scorecard, ProPublica
• The Drone Papers, The Intercept

The University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism, Large

• The Tennis Racket, BuzzFeed and the BBC
• What Went Wrong in Flint, FivethirtyEight.com
• Focus on Force: An Investigation In Use of Force by the Orlando Police Department, Orlando Sentinel
• Failure Factories, Tampa Bay Times
• The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election, The New York Times

Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Small

• “Permission to Exterminate” Terror in Central Asia, Coda Story
• Asunción 360, DIVE
• Undercurrent, School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina
• Fatal Extraction: Australian Mining in Africa, The Center for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Medium

• Casualties of the Streets, Austin American-Statesman
• Virtual Reality, FRONTLINE

Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Large

• The Yellowstone Issue, National Geographic
• Buying Democracy, Newsy
• 6×9: A Virtual Experience of Solitary Confinement, The Guardian and The Mill
• Homan Square: An Interactive Portrait of Chicago’s Detainees, The Guardian US
• Visual Digital Storytelling from The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal

Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism

• Nearby Tipping, Breaking News
• Atlas, Quartz
• Shorthand, Shorthand
• ArchieML, The New York Times
• Autotune, Vox Media

The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Small

• Exxon: The Road Not Taken, InsideClimate News
• Civilian Deaths in Yemen: A Social Media Investigation, reported.ly
• The Mastermind, The Atavist Magazine

The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Medium

• The Color of Debt, ProPublica
• Officer Involved, Southern California Public Radio (KPCC)
• Pesticides in Pot, The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Large

• Amazon Doesn’t Consider the Race of Its Customers. Should It?, Bloomberg News
• Red Cross, ProPublica and NPR
• Insane. Invisible. In Danger., Sarasota Herald-Tribune/Tampa Bay Times
• The Panama Papers: Politicians, Criminals and the Rogue Industry That Hides Their Cash, The Center for Public Integrity’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 media organizations
• Homan Square, The Guardian US

Knight Award for Public Service

• A Matter of Dignity, Star Tribune
• Clash in the Name of Care, The Boston Globe
• Prisons Reporting, The Huffington Post
• Nuisance Abatement, The New York Daily News and ProPublica

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small

• De Correspondent, decorrespondent.nl
• KBIA, kbia.org
• The Intercept, theintercept.com
• The Texas Tribune, texastribune.org
• The Trace, thetrace.org

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Medium

• FRONTLINE, pbs.org
• Le Temps, letemps.ch
• ProPublica, propublica.org
• Quartz, qz.com

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Large

• AJ+ Digital News Publishing, ajplus.net
• Bloomberg News, bloomberg.com
• The Huffington Post’s Highline, highline.huffingtonpost.com
• The New York Times, nytimes.com
• Vox, vox.com

The judges for finalists were:

• Matt Carroll, Future of News, MIT Media Lab
• Katelin Chow, Digital Journalist, NPR Code Switch
• Jenn Chang Crandall, Artist-in-Residence, Alabama Media Group
• Kenan Davis, Head of Interactive, Guardian US
• Meghann Farnsworth, Engagement Editor, Recode
• Priya Ganapati, Product Director, Quartz
• Mónica Guzmán, Seattle-based journalist & 2016 Nieman Fellow
• Joshua Hatch, Assistant Managing Editor, Data and Interactives, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Robert Hernandez, Associate Professor of Professional Practice, USC Annenberg School of Journalism
• Liz Heron, Executive Editor, Huffington Post
• Rich Jaroslovsky, Vice President for Content, SmartNews, Inc.
• S. Mitra Kalita, VP Programming, CNN
• Martin Kotynek, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, ZEIT ONLINE
• Jacqui Maher, Interactive Journalist, BBC News Labs
• Miguel Paz, distinguished lecturer in Data Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, founder of Poderopedia
• Rhyne Piggott, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Middle Tennessee State University.
• Robert Quigley, Innovation Director and Senior Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism
• Nabil Wakim, Director, Editorial Innovation, Le Monde
• Sisi Wei, News Applications Developer, ProPublica
• Anita Zielina, Editor-in-Chief New Products, NZZ, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung

*Judges were recused from discussing categories in which their own organizations were entered.

Launched in 2000, the OJAs are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism.

About ONA
The Online News Association is the world’s largest association of online journalists. ONA’s mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, technologists, photographers, academics, students and others who produce and distribute news for digital delivery systems. ONA also hosts the annual Online News Association annual conference and administers the Online Journalism Awards.

About Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org

About the Gannett Foundation
The Gannett Foundation is a corporate foundation sponsored by Gannett Co., Inc. whose mission is to invest in the future of the communities in which Gannett does business, and in the future of our industry. It supports projects that take a creative approach to fundamental issues such as education and neighborhood improvement, economic development, youth development, community problem-solving, assistance to disadvantaged people, environmental conservation and cultural enrichment.

About the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications is driving innovation and engagement across the disciplines of advertising, journalism, public relations and telecommunication. The strength of its programs, faculty, students and alumni — in research and in practice — has earned the college ongoing recognition as one of the best in the nation among its peers. The college offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and certificates, both online and on campus. The college’s strength is drawn from both academic rigor and experiential learning. The college includes seven broadcast and digital media properties and the nation’s only chair in public interest communications.

At ONA, we’re often asked what it’s like to plan one of the largest digital journalism conferences in the world, hosting nearly 2,200 journalists, entrepreneurs, academics, technologists and media innovators. The short answer is: amazing. The more nuanced answer: amazing … with its own set of logistical challenges.

One of those challenges has been predicting — years in advance — how many hotel rooms to secure for the conference. Read More

Get ready to greet colleagues, share ideas and best practices and explore Denver, our stunning host city, at ONA16, Sept. 15-17.

Denver embodies so many aspirational qualities for cities around the world. It has a growing, increasingly diverse population. Its downtown is both stylish and historic. A burgeoning tech scene and countless innovative startups have driven larger companies to expand their presence in the city and the surrounding areas.

The media makeup reflects the dynamic population, with organizations ranging from numerous local digital-first properties to legacy print and broadcast outlets to a wonderful city magazine. And we’ll have strong academic representation from CU Boulder and the University of Denver.

Recreation isn’t so bad, either. Fall is just about the perfect time in extremely walkable Denver, home to big, beautiful mountains and everything from bookstores to craft breweries. Not only does the city claim the reigning Super Bowl champs in the Broncos, but it’s the smallest metropolitan city to boast professional hockey, basketball and baseball teams, as well (btw, the Rockies are in town during ONA16 — we checked).

So please join us at our gorgeous, centrally located venue, the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. We again are aiming for a continually innovative conference, fantastic networking and a chance to air some fresh ideas and inspiration on all things journalism.

Book your rooms today, as they sell out fast. And about that — here’s a pro tip: Multiple conferences will be in town that week, so early booking is a must.

ONA is a nonprofit membership organization for digital journalists, connecting journalism, technology and innovation. You can learn more about us at journalists.org. Our annual conference is a chance for reporters, editors, designers, developers, students, faculty and others to talk about emerging topics in digital media. Check out our Program Team for an idea of who is involved.