Call for nominations: 2025 ONA Community Award

Each year we invite members of the Online News Association to nominate peers for the ONA Community Award, a special recognition for an individual, small team or community that has made extraordinary contributions by creating inclusive spaces to enable digital journalists to do game-changing work. Launched in 2018, the award is unique in the industry for looking beyond individual journalism projects and bylines to highlight behind-the-scenes efforts that have had a tremendous impact on the journalism community.

The 2025 ONA Community Award is open for nominations now through Thursday, Aug. 7, 11:59 p.m. EDT. All active ONA members are eligible to submit a nomination.

Past ONA Community Award honorees have included community leaders like Benét J. Wilson, a longtime ONA member who has been an exceptional mentor to hundreds of journalists finding their place in the industry; Siri Carpenter, honored for building an inclusive community and comprehensive resources for science journalists through The Open Notebook; Manori Wijesekera, for leading a robust, multi-language training platform for women journalists in some of the world’s least covered countries; and the administrators of the Journalists of Color Slack (JOC Slack), who created a highly engaged support network of peers.

How to nominate yourself or your peers

All active ONA members can submit nominations for themselves or other individuals or small teams that embody the community award. The nomination form has three sections:

• Nominee information: Provide the name(s), professional title, organization and email address, plus indicate whether the nominee is aware of your recommendation.
• Accomplishments and impact: Answer two questions about the nominee’s story.
  • How has the nominee gone above and beyond to foster a strong sense of belonging and inclusion within the digital journalism community? Provide specific examples.
  • Discuss the effect of the nominee and/or their work within the community. Imagine you’re introducing them for winning this award, what would you want to highlight about their impact?
• Supporting materials: Share at least one, and up to four, examples that highlight the nominee’s impact. Supporting materials may include, but aren’t limited to, links to a community group or resources developed by the nominee, online coverage outlining the nominee’s impact, testimonials and/or other notes of support and gratitude.

Submit a nomination to the 2025 ONA Community Award

ONA members contribute year-round support for our mission to inspire innovation and excellence in digital journalism. Learn more about membership. If you have any questions about your ONA membership status, contact awards@journalists.org.