Awards

# Breaking News
This category honors digital coverage throughout an unplanned breaking or developing news event. Judges will weigh evidence of exceptional journalism, quality of writing and creative use of digital, social and mobile platforms under deadline pressure. All work submitted must have been produced within 72 hours of the original news event. In addition to content, entrants are strongly encouraged to provide screenshots or other evidence from the first minutes and hours after the event to clarify publication times and how coverage developed over time.

Two awards:

• Small/Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Digital Video Storytelling
This award honors innovative work in telling stories through digital video, including animation. Judges will consider the distinction of presentation, how the work incorporates digital storytelling techniques and is unique to digital platforms and the impact of the journalism produced. Attention will also be paid to innovative use of digital video, and creativity used to tell stories on digital, mobile and social platforms. In all subcategories, credits do not count towards total overall length of the video.

Eight awards:

• Social Media: Videos that are featured on social media platforms and are less than three minutes in length individually. May submit up to 3 videos total as a package.
  • Small/Medium newsroom
  • Large newsroom
• Short Form: A single video that runs 10 minutes or less.
  • Small/Medium newsroom
  • Large newsroom
• Long Form: A single video that runs longer than 10 minutes.
  • Small/Medium newsroom
  • Large newsroom
• Series: Three-five videos of any length within a series. There is no time limit placed on videos in the series.
  • Small/Medium newsroom
  • Large newsroom

# Excellence in AI Innovation
This award honors a person or newsroom that has implemented generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in innovative ways to enhance productivity, accessibility and newsgathering, or to connect with audiences. Projects in this category may include, but are not limited to, editorial or visual products, workflows and processes, enhanced accessibility achievements, data-driven investigative projects and audience engagement efforts. Entrants will be evaluated on the extent to which their AI implementation serves an identified need, either internally or externally focused. Judges will also weigh the quality of the entry on its creative use of AI tools, considerations for human agency in the design and how the tools improve the human experience. Entrants are strongly encouraged to submit up to five URLs and an in-depth explanation on how they used generative-AI tools to enhance their work.

Three Awards:

• Small Newsroom
• Medium Newsroom
• Large Newsroom

# Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling
This award honors exceptional efforts in telling stories through digitally focused audio media: podcasts, audio-focused online works, or other emerging media. Judges will consider the journalism behind an audio project, the uniqueness and originality of voice, overall production quality, and innovative use of storytelling techniques. Judges will give special attention to the creativity being brought to bear to tell stories that are truly of digital and mobile platforms.

Four awards:

• Ongoing series: A continually publishing podcast or audio work, published on a regular schedule. Judges will consider the strength of the work based on a selection of episodes or pieces. Entries may include up to three URLs directly linking to the audio media.
• Limited series: A limited set of audio pieces, published over time or all at once, with a definite start and end. This could be a short-run podcast, or a set of audio works. Entries may include up to three URLs directly linking to the audio media.
• Daily/Weekly News: A continually published podcast or audio work focused on daily or weekly current events and news. Judges will consider the strength of the work based on a selection of episodes or pieces. Entries may include up to three URLs directly linking to the audio media.
• Use of Audio Storytelling: Focused on audio incorporated into a digital story or a single audio-focused production, which may include a single episode of a podcast or show. Judges will consider the innovative use of audio within the story and how audio is incorporated, as well as production, storytelling and voice.

The Online Journalism Awards are proud to partner with The Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund. The Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund supports independent BIPOC, Queer and Trans audio professionals in submitting their work to media/journalism awards, including ONA. Launched by LWC Studios, with AIR, Pacific Content, Acast, Triton Digital and Sounds Profitable as fund partners, the Fund helps independent U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia-based audio professionals submit work to key U.S., U.K., Canadian, and Australian competitions by covering submission fees for independent producers, editors, and other creators. The Fund accepts reimbursement applications on a rolling basis year-round and is committed to supporting 200+ independent producer award submissions each year, disbursing at least $20,000 annually. Qualifying applicants are encouraged to apply for a chance to get reimbursed. Learn more about the Fund and how to apply.

# Excellence in Collaboration and Partnerships
This award honors newsrooms and companies who have formed external partnerships or collaborations to cover a topic or story with a digital focus. Entries should include documentation from each partner in the collaboration and partnership, covering the contributions from various entities that made the collaboration a success. A winning entry should show creativity and innovation through a partnership that resulted in outstanding journalism and unique storytelling approaches using digital media.

# Excellence in Newsletters
This category honors email newsletters that serve as a conduit to delivering news and information. Entries should showcase a unique voice, whether the newsletter is issued by an individual or organization. Entries may span the increasingly wide array of newsletter formats, such as providing a digest of news or events, curating resources, sharing ideas or opinions from individual columnists, providing insight on topical issues or containing original reporting and exclusive content. Submitters should make note of any visual elements that regularly accompany stories and/or provide context. Entries may consist of daily, weekly or other regularly delivered offerings (and we all miss an issue or two, there is no penalty for a reasonable number of gaps). Judges will consider quality of writing, design, frequency, length of content based on the material, subject matter and overall strategy and impact of the newsletter.

Two Awards:

• Single Newsletter: This award honors a single newsletter published under the same brand. Entrants may include up to five URLs linking to examples or archives of your single newsletter.
• Portfolio: This award honors a set of different newsletters published under the same brand. Entrants may include up to five URLs linking to examples or archives of the portfolio of newsletters.

# Excellence in Science Reporting
This category honors excellence in digital journalism focusing on science. Entries in this category may report across areas such as, but not limited to, health and wellness, climate change, medical and natural sciences, space science, scientific innovation, STEM education and careers, and/or the role of science in society. Reporting through a variety of formats, including but not limited to writing, photography, data visualization, video or audio, is eligible for this award. Judges will weigh the overall quality and integrity of the journalism and editorial process, the use of facts in an easily understandable way for the identified audiences, digital production and design of the coverage, and the ways in which the engagement and delivery strategy was employed to reach, inform and engage with the audience. Entries may include up to three links of work demonstrating how the single story used multiple mediums to reach the intended audiences.

Two awards:

• Small/Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Excellence in Social Justice Reporting
This award honors exceptional works of digital journalism that highlight and report on systemic inequities encountered by marginalized and underrepresented communities. Examples of projects in this category may include, but are not limited to, coverage on social movements, racial justice, voting rights, migration, LGBTQ+ issues, gender equity and access to education, food or healthcare. Judges will weigh the quality of the journalism, digital innovation, engagement strategy and the impact of the project.

Two awards:

• Single Story: This award recognizes outstanding reporting in a single story format for social justice topics. Reporting from a variety of mediums, including but not limited to writing, photography, data visualization, video or audio, are eligible for this award.
• Portfolio: This award recognizes a portfolio of work produced to highlight social justice topics. Portfolios may include assets from different mediums, including but not limited to, writing, photography, data visualization, video or audio. Entrants may submit up to 5 links of work.

# Excellence in Social Media Engagement
This award recognizes stories and projects published on social media platforms that demonstrate outstanding audience engagement. Entries in this category may include reporting repackaged specifically for social media or original content created solely for a social media audience. Entries may include assets from a variety of mediums, including but not limited to, text, photography, data visualization, video or audio. Judges will evaluate each entry on its journalistic excellence, execution of the identified engagement strategy, and overall impact of the story or project on the intended community or audience. Entrants may submit up to five links of work.

Three Awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Excellence in Sports Reporting
This category honors excellence in online journalism covering all aspects of sports. Entries may cover topics such as professional or amateur sports and sporting events and culture, athlete profiles, analysis of sporting trends, and sports-related investigations. Successful entries will demonstrate the highest journalistic standards, digital production and coverage design, and the ways in which digital, social, mobile and other platforms are employed to reach, inform and engage with the audience.

Two awards:

• Small/Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Excellence in Technology Reporting
This award recognizes excellence in digital journalism focusing on coverage of technology. Entries in this category may address all aspects of technology including culture, policy and economic impact. Entries can include investigations, analysis and profiles. Reporting through a variety of formats, including but not limited to writing, photography, data visualization, video or audio, is eligible for this award. Judges will weigh the quality of the journalism, digital production and design, use of platforms, engagement strategy and the impact of the coverage.

Three Awards:

• Small Newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Excellence in Visual Digital Storytelling
This award honors exceptional and innovative efforts in telling a story through photography, graphics, data visualization and other visual means. This can include storytelling that uses virtual reality, artificial intelligence, AI chatbots, augmented reality, mixed reality, 360 video or other emerging media. Strong visual digital storytelling often has reporting and text as a component of the piece which may be included with entries in this category. Judges will consider the quality and impact of the visuals, the selection of media and the effectiveness of the visuals in conveying the story’s topic or event. Judges also will give special attention to the originality, innovation and creativity being brought to bear to tell stories that are truly of digital and mobile platforms.

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Explanatory Reporting
This award honors excellence in sustained and ongoing explanatory journalism through digital means. Entries should cover a planned, significant news event or topic over a sustained period of time, and explain the relevance and impact of a subject or event to audiences through storytelling and presentation. Entries should showcase the ongoing and continued coverage of the event or topic and how the organization explained the issue and engaged audiences.

Judges will consider the execution and quality of the journalism; design and presentation of the coverage; and the ways in which multiple platforms, including social and mobile, were used to reach, inform and engage with the audience. Entries should consist of up to five work samples.

Three awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Feature
This award honors excellence in online journalism presented in a single package or story that shows significant depth, insight and new understanding of a story or topic. Entries may be presented as profiles, feature packages, or watchdog journalism. Judges will consider the use of social tools to coalesce a participatory, online community around the topic being covered; the quality of the journalism; the digital production and design of the coverage; and the ways in which multiple platforms, including social and mobile, were used to reach, inform and engage with the audience.

Three awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Gather Award in Community-Centered Journalism

This award honors strategies and processes that center community information needs and voices in the production of journalistic work. Entries should emphasize the following:

• How the work or project’s approach worked to understand how journalism could best serve identified communities and meet people where they are (geography, language, accessibility, identity, platform, etc.)
• Which communities the newsroom was trying to serve with the submitted project and why
• How decisions were made to best engage with these communities
• How the work or project established meaningful pathways for communities to contribute in deeper ways to the reporting

Please include links to relevant stories and productions, along with supporting materials that demonstrate the impact of your work. This may include post-project reflections (which can be either published by your news organization or prepared specifically for this submission, up to 500 words), and/or documented conversations with community members affected by the reporting (such as transcripts, audio clips, video snippets, or written summaries). Judges will consider the intentional design of engagement strategies, particularly how the project sought to better understand and serve a specific community — especially if that community is traditionally unheard or underserved in local or national news coverage.

If you are unsure what to submit, consider past strong examples: a newsroom reflection outlining lessons learned and changes made after the project, a link to a short video featuring community members discussing the reporting’s impact, or a written summary of direct feedback received from the audience. If you have limited capacity for additional materials, a concise statement explaining how your newsroom engaged the community and what insights emerged will be sufficient.

Judges will also consider the execution of the work or project, any innovative or unique uses of engagement platforms, frameworks and techniques, the adaptability of the community-centered journalism approaches and the meaningful impact the engagement had on the communities it serves. At this point, most newsrooms have experimented with social media engagement and callouts. Entries need to explicitly state what makes the submitted work or project unusually effective in terms of better serving a specific community.

Two project awards will be considered in this category based on the communities served:

• Overall Excellence, Urban & National Focus: This award recognizes a newsroom project that serves a large or diverse audience, whether through local, regional, or national coverage. It honors initiatives that effectively engage and inform communities of significant size, including metropolitan areas, multi-city collaborations, or national efforts focused on specific populations (more than 50,000). Judges will consider how the project navigates the complex and varied information needs of these audiences. ($2,500 prize)
• Overall Excellence, Community-Based & Rural Focus: This award honors a newsroom project dedicated to serving less densely populated communities (less than 50,000). This includes rural areas as well as smaller communities within urban settings that may be overlooked by mainstream coverage. Judges will evaluate how the project fosters deep connections, provides essential information, and overcomes the unique challenges of reaching and engaging these audiences. ($2,500 prize)

Both categories celebrate journalism that prioritizes the needs of communities historically underrepresented or underserved. Newsrooms should apply based on the primary audience their project serves, not their physical location. Those serving both broad and localized communities should apply in the category that best reflects the core focus of their submitted project.

ONA would like to acknowledge the Gather team’s support in establishing and defining this award, which is made possible by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication’s Agora Journalism Center.

FAQs on Urban and Rural Categories
Q: How are “urban” and “rural” communities specifically defined for this award?
A: Urban communities include metropolitan areas with populations of 50,000 or more, as well as broader audiences served by national or multi-city news efforts. This category also recognizes projects that address the complex information needs of large, diverse, or dispersed communities.

Rural communities include less densely populated areas, such as small towns, agricultural regions, tribal lands, and remote locations. This category also recognizes projects serving smaller or tightly connected communities within urban settings that are often overlooked by mainstream coverage.

Q: Are there different judging criteria for the urban versus rural categories?
A: The fundamental criteria remain the same for both categories, focusing on how effectively newsrooms center community information needs and voices. However, judges will take into account the distinct contexts and challenges of each category. For urban and national efforts, this may include addressing the diverse and complex information needs of large or dispersed communities. For rural and community-based initiatives, judges will consider how projects navigate resource limitations, geographic isolation, or the unique dynamics of serving smaller or tightly connected communities.

# General Excellence in Online Journalism

This category honors a digitally focused news organization that successfully fulfills its editorial mission, effectively serves its audience, maximizes the use of digital tools and platforms and represents the highest journalistic standards. Entries will be judged on quality of journalism, a superb user experience and the use of social tools and other digital media to reach, inform and engage audiences.

Four awards:

• Small newsroom ($5,000 prize)
• Medium newsroom ($5,000 prize)
• Large newsroom ($5,000 prize)
• Micro size newsroom (15 or fewer employees) ($5,000 prize)

# Innovation in Revenue Strategy
This award honors a person or newsroom that has implemented innovative revenue strategies to enhance their organization’s financial sustainability and journalistic independence. Projects in this category may include but are not limited to subscription models, membership programs, event programs, branded content approaches, merchandising, content licensing, and/or strategic partnerships. Entrants will be evaluated on the extent to which their revenue innovation serves an identified need and contributes to your operation’s sustainability. Entrants are strongly encouraged to submit up to five URLs and an in-depth explanation on how they developed and implemented their revenue strategy to sustain or expand their journalistic work.

Three awards:

• Small Newsroom
• Medium Newsroom
• Large Newsroom

# Knight Award for Public Service

This award recognizes digital journalism that performs a public service for a defined and specific community through compelling coverage of a vital community issue or event. Entries will be judged on the techniques and resources deployed to engage the community in the reporting process. Judges also will evaluate the use of digital media storytelling to compile, analyze and/or present critical information. Special emphasis will be placed on journalism that builds trust within the identified community, or addresses critical issues in traditionally underserved communities in innovative ways. In other words, judges are looking for storytelling that makes an impact, motivating the audience to act and improve a community’s welfare and quality of life. Entries may be a single package or continuing project and may consist of one main URL and up to four supporting URLs. Evidence of the project’s public service impact should be provided in the entry description.

One award ($5,000 prize)

# Online Commentary
This category honors a unique and powerful voice of commentary original to the web. The journalism should display freshness of insight and explanation, as well as demonstrate a creative use of the medium and platforms, including mobile. An entry may consist of text, audio, videos, graphics, podcasts, etc. (Print syndication after initial digital posting does not disqualify an entry; however, entries consisting of online publication of print-first content are not eligible.). Judges will consider the quality of the writing and presentation, social strategies to attract user response or action and overall impact of the piece.

Two awards:

• Personal Narrative: This award honors a single story presented in the first-person perspective where the writer’s life experience or intimate view of an event is the main focus. Judges will additionally consider creativity of the storytelling.
• Package of Columns: This award honors a package of columns or series of commentary. Entries may cover single issues or a variety of topics and consist of up to five URLs.

# Student Journalism Award
This category honors work produced by high school or undergraduate students that uses digital storytelling and technologies to inform its audience across a breadth of topics or issues. Judges will consider the quality of the journalism; the digital production and design of the coverage; and the ways in which digital, social, mobile and other platforms are employed to reach, inform and engage with the audience. Entrants may submit 2-5 links highlighting projects and work produced. Entrants must submit a short (1 page max) letter of recommendation from a professor or professional in support of the student and work being submitted.

# The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award
This category honors a single or a series of stories that uncover major news based on the reporters’ own investigations that advance and serve the public interest. Clear presentation through user interface and interactivity, creative use of the medium and platforms (including mobile), use of social tools and evidence of the impact of the publication will be considered. Judges will also consider the impact of the work through subsequent coverage, conversations or resulting policy changes. An entry will consist of a single piece, series or package on the same subject, including an explanation detailing the investigation’s impact. An entry may consist of up to five examples, including articles, blog posts, videos, graphics, podcasts, etc.

Three awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# The University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism

This award, made possible by the estate of Lorraine Dingman, honors work that best features and presents data journalism on digital and mobile platforms. The award will focus on the effectiveness of the data to tell a story, how well the data is presented to users, the journalistic impact and relevance of the data, and the design and functionality of the data presentation. Judges will also take into account the difficulty in acquiring the data. Winners will be asked to travel to the University of Florida (expenses paid) to lead full-day workshops.

Two awards:

• Small/Medium newsroom ($7,500 prize)
• Large newsroom ($7,500 prize)

# Topical Reporting: Climate Change
This award honors excellence in online journalism covering climate change. The award recognizes journalism showcased in a variety of mediums, including exceptional efforts in telling stories through writing, photography, data visualization, events, video, or audio. Beyond science and policy, entries in this category may address health, trade, agriculture, housing, sports, business, insurance and a wide range of other facets of our daily lives. Judges will weigh the quality of the journalism, digital production and design, use of multiple platforms, engagement strategy and the impact of the project.

Three awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom

# Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity
This award recognizes excellence in digital journalism that covers race, ethnicity, gender and identity. Entries in this category may address all aspects of the topic, including politics, the work place, health, safety, lifestyle and economic impact. Entries can include investigations, analysis and profiles. Reporting through a variety of formats, including but not limited to writing, photography, data visualization, video or audio, are eligible for this award. Judges will weigh the quality of the journalism, digital production and design, use of platforms, engagement strategy and the impact of the coverage.

Three awards:

• Small newsroom
• Medium newsroom
• Large newsroom