Review this page before starting your submission. If you have more specific questions about rules and eligibility, please contact us at awards@journalists.org.
The Online Journalism Awards are open to newsrooms of all types, websites, micro sites, blogs, podcasts and all digital platforms 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. Online retailers and advertising sites are not eligible.
The 2024 Online Journalism Awards are open to work published between May 26, 2023 and April 30, 2024. Entries must be available online for one year from date of submission. Submissions close on Thursday, May 16 at 11:59 p.m. EDT (3:59 a.m UTC).
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. You may only enter the same project into three categories; you may reference entries in portfolio categories, but one project/story may not be the primary part of more than three entries.
Some categories are broken out by size, as determined by the total number of the organization’s full-time or equivalent employees who focus on or support digital production (even indirectly) including ad sales reps, technical staff and/or a business development department. If an entry was produced with external resources — contractors, freelancers, etc. — that number must be included when determining size.
To be eligible for The Student Journalism Award, the work being submitted must have been produced only by enrolled students receiving academic credit for the work being entered. Students can be full- or part-time; high school or undergraduate students. Work produced for pay is not eligible for these student awards. Work that was created by a student for credit but then subsequently and independently made available to a commercial publication is allowed, but should be explained in the entry.
Graduate students may submit their work in all other categories of the Online Journalism Awards.
A note about freelancers and contractors: If an entry is the product of work with contractors or freelancers, include the number of staff on a freelance or contract basis with determining the size of your organization.
A note about partnerships: If an entry is the product of a partnership of two or more organizations, enter into the size category corresponding to the combined staffs of the partner organizations, or enter into the Excellence in Collaboration and Partnerships category.
A note about subsidiaries: Many media outlets are part of larger organizations. To determine the proper size for your entry, consider the following: if your organization is wholly independent and receives no technological, editorial, or financial support from your parent organization, then you may be eligible to enter into a smaller size category. However, if your organization receives material, technological, editorial or financial support from the larger entity, you may need to enter the larger organization category.
When making your submission, you will be required to include a statement explaining why you believe your entry belongs in the selected size category. OJA judges have the final say as to whether your entry was entered in the proper size category. Entries determined to be mis-entered may be excluded from consideration.
Submissions for the 2024 Online Journalism Awards are open April 4 to May 16. Entries must be submitted through the online platform, which will be updated before the submission window opens. To enter, fill out entry forms for each entry across all categories. Then pay for the total number of awards entries. Submissions close on Thursday, May 16 at 11:59 p.m. EDT (3:59 a.m. UTC).
Each category has its own set of criteria for entries to be eligible. Review specific criteria under each category description to understand all entry requirements. Basic requirements include a URL where the entry is live and a username and password if the entry requires a subscription or registration. Please be aware the OJA judging panel often includes a significant number of international judges, so for sites not conforming to GDPR, additional screenshots or PDFs may be required.
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 require installation of an app or some other technical requirement beyond the typical browser, please note that in your entry.
For details on what to expect when completing the submission form, see Submission Requirements.
Entries can be saved and edited until the deadline, but corrections cannot be made to entries after submitting. Please verify that all the information in your entry is correct before submitting.
Entries may be submitted in any language, however, we strongly recommend submitting your project in English. While we make efforts to enlist a multilingual panel of judges—including English, Spanish and French speakers—we are unable to guarantee that the judges reviewing your work will be fluent in non-English languages and may need to use an automated translation tool. If submitting an entry in a non-English language, please provide English translations to text, audio and video elements (where possible).
The Online Journalism Awards offers 5 pricing tiers for entries:
**ONA members and non-members working in micro-size newsrooms, defined as newsrooms with 15 or fewer employees, may take advantage of this rate.
If you’d like to become an ONA member, join here.
In order to receive the member rate, sign in with your ONA membership account in the online portal. Otherwise, create an account on the awards site to submit an entry at the non-member rate.
Payment should be made online by credit card. If you are unable to pay by credit card, you may pay by check. Please contact awards@journalists.org to arrange check payment. Checks must be received by June 14, or your submission may be disqualified.
The Online Journalism Awards is 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 U.S. and U.K., 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.
Finalists and winners are determined by two rounds of evaluation. A first round of screeners will narrow down the entries to a group of semi-finalists. Then a second group of judges will meet online to select the finalists and winners. The judges reserve the right to not assign a winner in a particular category.
If you’d like to volunteer as an OJA screener or judge, learn more and apply using the button below. Applications are open between April 4 and May 9, 2024.
Apply to volunteer as an OJA screener or judgeEntrants agree to the terms below upon submitting an entry to the Online Journalism Awards:
Any submission to the Online Journalism Awards remains the intellectual property of you or your organization. That said, by submitting, you are granting us the right to publish what you submit — photos, text, videos, etc. — on our various websites. We do this to showcase the caliber of finalists and winners, as well as to promote the Online Journalism Awards. If you have more detailed questions about your submission, please refer to our complete Terms & Conditions.
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 partner(s) of the Online Journalism Awards, if any) the rights granted above.
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