Public media outlets made a strong showing in Online Journalism Awards (OJAs) presented Saturday in Chicago.
The nonprofit newsroom ProPublica won four. NPR won three, including two for its Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt project. The Texas Tribune won two; and Oregon Public Broadcasting and Minnesota Public Radio, one each.
Oregon Public Broadcasting won an OJA for its exploration of the Glacier Caves in Mount Hood. (Photo: Brent McGregor, OPB)
Public media winners were:
- Visual digital storytelling, large: Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt, NPR (tie with National Geographic)
- Visual digital storytelling, medium: “Thin Ice: Exploring Mount Hood’s Secret World,” Oregon Public Broadcasting
- Explanatory reporting, medium: Segregation Now, ProPublica (tie with Breaking the Silence, Baltimore Sun)
- Online journalism, medium: propublica.org
- Feature, large: Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt, NPR
- Feature, medium: Segregation Now, ProPublica
- Online Journalism, small: publicintegrity.org, Center for Public Integrity
- Online commentary, large: Code Switch, NPR
- Planned news/events, small: “31 Days, 31 Ways,” Texas Tribune
- Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, medium: Overdose, ProPublica
- Topical reporting, medium: ProPublica’s health care coverage
- Topical reporting, small: Texas abortion filibuster, Texas Tribune
- University of Florida Award in Investigative Data Journalism, small/medium: Betrayed by Silence, Minnesota Public Radio News
The Online News Association launched the OJAs in May 2000 to honor excellence in digital journalism around the world. Finalists — in small, medium and large categories — were announced in August, and a full list of winners is here.
Judges included Scott Klein, assistant managing editor at ProPublica; Doug Mitchell, consultant and project manager, NPR; and Hari Sreenivasan, correspondent and anchor, PBS NewsHour.
As the chair of the Online Journalism Awards, I must point out that judges who had a conflict of interest with an entry were recused from the entire category in which that entry was judged. That means Scott Klein was not involved in any judging or discussions in any of the categories where ProPublica was an entry. The same goes for Doug Mitchell and any entries involving public radio, and Hari Sreenivasan and any entries involving public television.
We make this clear on our judging pages, and I wanted to make that clear here was well.