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, Los Angeles News Group and San Bernardino Sun
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, 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
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, Steven Johnson 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’s Product Team, Vox Media, Vox Product
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+, ajplus.net
Bloomberg News, bloomberg.com
The Huffington Post’s Highline, highline.huffingtonpost.com
The New York Times, nytimes.com
Vox Media, 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, Interactive Journalist, The 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.
Mitra Kalita, VP Programming, CNN
Martin Kotynek, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, ZEIT ONLINE
Jacqui Maher, Interactive Journalist, BBC News Labs
Miguel Paz, Professor, CUNY Journalism School; 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.