The judges have spoken, and the Online News Association has named its 2008 award winners. As my colleague Deb Wenger pointed out in an earlier post, there were few broadcast finalists. In the end, only one of them won. CNN.com took the award for general excellence (large site). The judges called it “one of the more dynamic destinations out there. One that takes user content seriously and integrates it into the whole, opening a new era of networked content.” One judge predicted “everyone will copy it.”‘
Newspapers swept most of the other awards, including a new one this year for best online video presentation. That award went to the Oregonian for its feature “Living to the End.”
Special congratulations to the two student journalism winners: UNC-Chapel Hill & Universidad de los Andes for South of Here, and Taylor Hayden of Western Kentucky University for Closer to Home: A Daughter Becomes Caregiver. Judges said the UNC entry had “excellent journalism, stunning photography, creative navigation, elegant structure, refreshing and enlightening content, all superbly executed technically.” Hayden drew praise for “well-done video, still imagery within and a spare design that works well for the project.”
