Dear members,
Today we are announcing a new winner in the 2012 Online Journalism Awards — The Chronicle of Higher Education, in the Feature, Medium, category, for its piece, “The Education of Dasmine Cathey.”
We made this change after the original winner, the Globe and Mail, alerted us that it had mistakenly entered its story “Breaking Caste” in the wrong size category. According to Executive Editor Jill Borra, who contacted ONA last week, the Globe and Mail misinterpreted the new entry criteria that factored in entries by size of editorial staff — because of its staff size, its entry should have been made in the Large category. This unintentional error resulted in the Globe and Mail winning an award for which it did not qualify.
After being notified, the OJA Committee took time to review the entries and judging notes and, consulting with the judges in that category, determined that the finalist The Chronicle of Higher Education was the winner.
We deeply appreciate the Globe and Mail alerting us to the error, returning the award and suggesting its removal as a finalist in the category. Moving forward, the OJA committee will work to fine-tune the entry process by better clarifying the divisions, and will redouble our efforts to ensure entrants are in the proper size divisions.
Please join us in extending our congratulations to the Chronicle of Higher Education for its well-deserved award.
Josh Hatch, Online Journalism Awards Chair