Online Journalism Awards Banquet

Join ONA and our academic partner, the University of Miami School of Communication, as we celebrate the outstanding work of Online Journalism Awards finalists at the awards dinner and presentation, emceed by Hari Sreenivasan of PBS. Sponsored by NBC Digital News Network.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20129:26 pm

Thanks to everyone for joining us tonight. We’ll see you all next year in Atlanta. Safe travels home!

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:25 pm

That’s all! Thanks for following along and congratulations to all the winners! (Even an empty chair won tonight.)

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:23 pm

Audience members congratulated to those who took home awards, many rallying behind the year’s favorites like Homicide Watch, Storify and ProPublica.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20129:23 pm

Some final thoughts from here at the ONA 2012 conference and the awards banquet:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:18 pm

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20129:17 pm

Special shout out to our colleagues in the student newsroom, who have been covering this conference every day. Some of them have stayed up well past midnight to deliver news, missing the parties while the rest of us were out enjoying ourselves.

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:17 pm

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:15 pm

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:15 pm

“That’s is for the awards this year. See you next year in Atlanta.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20129:14 pm

New York Times wins the award for general excellence in online journalism for large organizations.

Jim Roberts for The New York Times: “Everything that’s built on the Times is built on the shoulders of those who started it in 1996.”

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:13 pm

Finally, the last award:

Winner: General Excellence in Online Journalism, Large:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:12 pm

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:12 pm

Winner: General Excellence in Online Journalism, Medium:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:10 pm

Winner: General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:10 pm

Winner: General Excellence, Non-English, Small/Medium:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:08 pm

Winner: Non-English Projects, Large:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:06 pm

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:05 pm

Winner: Non-English Projects, Small/Medium:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:02 pm

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20129:01 pm

Largest cheer yet for Homicide Watch D.C., which was recently saved after a scrappy Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to keep the project going. They needed $40,000, and they got it. It’ll keep the project going for a year.

“We’re worked on this project on our kitchen table for two years. For everyone working on projects on their kitchen tables, this is you,” says Laura Amico, the site’s co-founder.

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20129:00 pm

Homicide Watch gets a loud, loud applause — and wins. Then, a standing ovation.

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:59 pm

Journalists love Storify.

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:58 pm

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

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:58 pm

Winner: Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Large:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:55 pm

Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Medium:

Acceptance: “Thank you to all of my sources who risked their careers” to deliver information.

And, well, the empty chair is still there.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:53 pm

Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small:

WLRN-Miami Herald News & StateImpact for NPR was the only finalist in the category.

Acceptance: “So proud of StateImpact Florida for this.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:51 pm

Winner of Online Commentary, Large, Grantland.com

Acceptance: “We would like to say thank you to ONA, and I would like to extend congratulations to Grandland for contributing to online and in the digital space.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:50 pm

Online Commentary, Medium:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:49 pm

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:48 pm

Always a concern these days:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:48 pm

Winner of Online Commentary, Small:

Acceptance: “I’m so thrilled that thing has won, so I wanted to jump up and tell you. Go and see it,” says someone from NBC Digital News (who wasn’t related to winning this award…). Seems like the wine is working, the emcee notes.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:45 pm

Chronicle of Higher Education accepting their ONA Award:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:44 pm

Gasps from the crowd as a tie for the award for explanatory reporting, large, is announced:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:42 pm

Winner: Explanatory Reporting, Medium:

Acceptance: “I honestly didn’t think this is the one we would have won.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:41 pm

Winner: Explanatory Reporting, Small:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:41 pm

A picture of the award:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:40 pm

Delivering an acceptance speech (pre-recorded) through an iPad at the Online News Association Awards Banquet:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:39 pm

Winner for News and Commentary, Student:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:38 pm

Award for Feature, Student:

Acceptance: “This was a project I worked on solo, but not without a lot of support with the University of California at Berkley.” The project was also supported through Kickstarter.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:37 pm

Award for Feature, Large

CNN acceptance: This is part of this initiative called the Freedom Project to cover human trafficking. Sent a reporter and a videographer to Mauritania — it was the last country on the planet to outlaw slavery. They said they did it, but didn’t really do it.

The award winners are not here, but delivered an acceptance speech on the iPad at the awards podium.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:34 pm

Winner of the Feature, Medium:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:33 pm

Award for Feature, Small

“This really goes to the News21 Team at North Carolina. I accept this on behalf of the students on Chapel Hill, who are incredible awe-inspiring. They tell video storytelling like it should be told, regularly.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:31 pm

Voice of America accepting their award:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:31 pm

Winner for Topical Reporting, Large

Acceptance: “We put a ton of effort into this and took a ton of risks to … bring the voices out from the Arab Spring.” Thanks for the VOA Middle East Team.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:29 pm

Topical Reporting, Medium:

Acceptance: Mostly I want to accept this on behalf of (a reporter who can’t be here tonight.) Also gives credit to data and mapping team who made it happen.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:28 pm

Topical Reporting, Small Winner:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:26 pm

Winner of Breaking News, Large:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:25 pm

Breaking News, Medium:

WINNER: Hurricane Irene Threatens New York City
WNYC

Finalists:
Occupy Nashvile
The Tennessean

University of Alberta Shooting
Edmonton Journal

John Keefe from WYNC credits his award with taking a class at ONA three years ago, skills which he and his team used in covering this event.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:23 pm

Planned News, Large Winner:
The Reckoning — America and The World a Decade After 9/11 — The New York Times

Jim Roberts: “9/11 is never an easy event to cover. The 10th anniversary was special for a number of reasons. We did a lot of innovative things, and we hope it’s something people can look back on.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:20 pm

Planned News, Medium Winner:
12:51
Stuff.co.nz and The Press

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:19 pm

Planned News Small Awards Winner:
Congressional Primaries 2012
Knight News Innovation Laboratory, Northwestern University

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:18 pm

The awards part is about to begin.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:18 pm

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:17 pm

Hari is on with the pop culture-laced viral-fodder humor — noting that “The Newsroom” has done about as well as covering fake newsrooms as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” did.

And, many more:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:16 pm

Sreenivasan: “When you come onto the stage, keep your remarks brief and SEO friendly.”

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:15 pm

Another angle of the ONA Empty Chair. But will Sreenivasan talk to it?

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:14 pm

Yeah, this just happened:

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:13 pm

“How the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare … And minutes later how the Supreme ruled on Obamacare,” Sreenivasan says, joking about the botched news breaking on the health care ruling.

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:12 pm

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:10 pm

Hari Sreenivasan now emceeing the ceremonies. Introduces the ONA Empty Chair:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20128:04 pm

Most have finished dinner as the ceremony officially begins.

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20128:04 pm

Members of the Digital First Media team at the Online Journalism Awards Banquet:

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20127:51 pm

Sure, the chicken was good. But those potatoes…

Daniel Petty Sep 22, 20127:23 pm

Amy Bartner, of the Indianapolis Star, and me, from The Denver Post/Digital First Media, will be live-blogging with you tonight (and eating some bites in between).

Amy Bartner Sep 22, 20127:01 pm

The crowd has left the reception and is filtering into the banquet hall — likely hoping for free drinks (or at least cheaper ones than at the reception).