Congratulations to the 194 finalists in the 2023 Online Journalism Awards (OJAs), the global prizes administered by the Online News Association (ONA) that have honored excellence in digital journalism since 2000.
Volunteer screeners and judges from around the world selected finalists from over 1,500 entries, a record level of participation in the awards. Among the finalist projects are powerful coverage of Indigenous-led movements to save Pacific Salmon, the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision and Russia-Ukraine War.
Judges also discovered exceptional work through this year’s new categories for Excellence in Technology Reporting, Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity, Immersive and Emerging Technology Storytelling and Sports, Health and Wellness.
For the 2023 OJAs, winners in select categories will be announced on Thursday, Aug. 17, during a virtual celebration hosted by Imaeyen Ibanga, Presenter at AJ+ and ONA board member, and LaSharah Bunting, ONA CEO and Executive Director. Another set of winners will be announced on Saturday, Aug. 26, in Philadelphia at the Online Journalism Awards Ceremony and Banquet, the closing event of the ONA23: Philadelphia conference (#ONA23). That evening will start with a networking reception, followed by the ceremony and banquet, presented with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Five of the awards come with prize money totaling $52,000, thanks to 3M, the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, McKinsey Publishing and SmartNews. These awards honor science reporting, community-centered journalism, investigative data journalism, climate change reporting and general excellence.
Full list of 2023 finalists
Get to know the 2023 Online Journalism Awards finalists:
General Excellence in Online Journalism, Large Newsroom
- The Globe and Mail
- The New York Times
- The Washington Post
General Excellence in Online Journalism, Medium Newsroom
- KFF Health News
- ProPublica
- The Marshall Project
- The Verge
General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small Newsroom
- Center for Public Integrity
- Honolulu Civil Beat
- The Markup
General Excellence in Online Journalism, Micro Newsroom
- Civil Eats
- The Pudding
- Undark
3M Truth in Science Award, Large Newsroom
- Science-based nutrition and personal health coverage, The Washington Post
- State of Wolves, Star Tribune
- The U.S. Never Banned Asbestos. These Workers Are Paying the Price, ProPublica, NPR
3M Truth in Science Award, Small/Medium Newsroom
- A Uranium Ghost Town in the Making, ProPublica
- “God, No, Not Another Case.” COVID-Related Stillbirths Didn’t Have to Happen, ProPublica
- Roots of an Outbreak, ProPublica
- Texas Women’s Health, The Texas Tribune
Breaking News, Large Newsroom
- Breaking Coverage of the Turkey/Syria Earthquake, Al Jazeera English
- Leaked Racist Tape Upends L.A. Politics, Los Angeles Times
- The Oslo Shooting: 13 Minutes of Horror, Verdens Gang (VG)
Breaking News, Small/Medium Newsroom
- Elon Musk takes over Twitter, The Verge, Platformer
- Former Square CTO Bob Lee Stabbed to Death in Downtown San Francisco, The San Francisco Standard
- Unpacking the impact of Dobbs, The 19th
Digital Video Storytelling, Long Form, Large Newsroom
- Exploited for decades, female bodybuilders speak out, The Washington Post
- One day in Hebron, AJ+
- Queer Egypt Under Attack, BBC World Service Investigations
- Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum (Salmon People): A Native Fishing Family’s Fight to Preserve a Way of Life, ProPublica, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Digital Video Storytelling, Long Form, Small/Medium Newsroom
- The Mother Trap, Mother Jones
- What New Zealand Can Teach us About Reparations, Vox Media
Digital Video Storytelling, Medium Form, Large Newsroom
- Buffalo: Healing from Hate – One Year Later, ABC News
- How Russia is Smuggling Ukrainian Grain to Pay for Putin’s War, Associated Press and FRONTLINE
- ‘I Cry Quietly:’ A Soldier Describes the Toll of Russia’s War, The New York Times
Digital Video Storytelling, Medium Form, Small/Medium Newsroom
- Meet the Woman Fighting for the Rights of Voters Who Can’t Read, ProPublica
- To heal a forest: The fight for salmon parks, The Seattle Times
- Videos Show NYPD Chiefs Intervened Before Voiding of Ex-Cop’s Gun Arrest, THE CITY
Digital Video Storytelling, Short Form, Large Newsroom
- ‘I Heard Them Screaming:’ Witness Says Migrants Were Left to Die in Mexico Fire, The New York Times
Digital Video Storytelling, Short Form, Small/Medium Newsroom
- Stories From The City , The San Francisco Standard
- The Young People Who “Ran” out of China, Are Their Dreams Coming True?, 歪脑 | WHYNOT by Radio Free Asia
Digital Video Storytelling, Series, Large Newsroom
- 52 Documentary, Voice of America
- Risky Business, Insider, Inc.
- Start Here, Al Jazeera English
- ZIP Codes with Imaeyen, AJ+
Digital Video Storytelling, Series, Small/Medium Newsroom
- A Uranium Ghost Town in the Making Video Series, ProPublica
- The Emancipator Video Commentary Series , The Emancipator
Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Large Newsroom
- A lonely struggle: Nine mothers share the mental health challenges they faced during ‘the happiest time of their lives’, CNN
- AR-15: The Blast Effect, The Washington Post
- Inside the hospitals that concealed Russian casualties, CNN
- Life Inside, Animated, The Marshall Project, VICE News
Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Medium Newsroom
- A Uranium Ghost Town in the Making, ProPublica
- BURNED, KUSA-TV
- Made in Miami: The assassination of Haiti’s Jovenel Moise, Miami Herald
- The Banality of Brutality: 33 days under siege in Block 17, Bucha, Ukraine, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling, Small Newsroom
- The Pudding’s Portfolio, The Pudding
- Welcome to the Ambaniverse , Rest of World
- What Do 355 Chinese and Foreign War Films Tell Us?, 歪脑 | WHYNOT by Radio Free Asia
Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Current Affairs
- Into America: Ongoing Current Affairs Reporting on Black America, MSNBC
- Putin Is a Fool: Intercepted Calls Reveal Russian Army in Disarray, The New York Times
- The Take, Al Jazeera
Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Limited Series
- Bedrock, USA, Bloomberg CityLab, Bloomberg News
- Into America: Street Disciples series on Politics, Power, & the Rise of Hip-Hop, MSNBC
- The Kill List, CBC News
- The Outlaw Ocean Podcast, The Outlaw Ocean Project
Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Ongoing Series
- Breakdown: The Trump Grand Jury, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- How to LA, Southern California Public Radio
- The Take, Al Jazeera
Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Use of Audio Storytelling
- Seven personal stories about abortion, The Washington Post
- The Prairies got something to say, CBC News
- The search for the perfect sound, The Washington Post
- What did dinosaurs sound like?, Vox Media
Excellence in Collaboration and Partnerships
- Great Salt Lake Collaborative, The Salt Lake Tribune, FOX 13 News Salt Lake City, Deseret News, KSL-TV, KSL NewsRadio, KSL.com, Standard-Examiner, KUER, Utah Public Radio, KRCL, Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College, Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water & Air at Utah State University, Salt Lake Community College Community Writing Center, Salt Lake Community College Geosciences Department, Utah Film Center, Utah Humanities
- H2A Visa Worker Exploitation, Prism, Futuro Investigates, Latino USA
- Railroaded, ProPublica, Gray Television/InvestigateTV
- Story Killers, Forbidden Stories, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Haaretz, Le Monde, Radio France, Le Soir, RTS, Tamedia, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, El Pais, Armando.info, Knack, Der Standard, ZDF, Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), Bird, El Espectador, Folha de Sao Paulo, Proceso
Excellence in Immersive and Emerging Technology Storytelling
- 3D analysis shows how Israeli troops fired into group of civilians, The Washington Post
- A Cathedral of Sound, The New York Times
- The Chain of Failures That Left 17 Dead in a Bronx Apartment Fire, The New York Times
Excellence in Newsletters, Portfolio
- Iowa Public Radio
- MIT Technology Review
- PBS NewsHour
Excellence in Newsletters, Single Newsletter
- Arepita, Arepita
- Closing Argument, The Marshall Project
- Fast Facts, VERIFY
- Jacksonville Today Newsletter, WJCT Public Media / Jacksonville Today
- School (in)Security, The 74
Excellence in Social Justice Reporting, Portfolio
- Coverage of Tyre Nichols’s Lethal Police Encounter, The New York Times
- Documenting the Death Penalty, The Intercept
- Long Division: The Persistence of Race Science, Undark
- Trafficking, Inc., GBH News
Excellence in Social Justice Reporting, Single Story
- Adrift, Associated Press
- Doctors Warned Her Pregnancy Could Kill Her. Then Tennessee Outlawed Abortion, ProPublica
- Inmate shuffle: How California bounces around its mentally ill prisoners, CalMatters
- L.A.’s Scoring System for Subsidized Housing Gives Black and Latino People Experiencing Homelessness Lower Priority Scores, The Markup
Excellence in Social Media Engagement, Large Newsroom
- Al Jazeera English Twitter, Al Jazeera English
- How to explain inflation to the audience (without boring them), LA NACION
- NBC News TikTok, NBC News
- New York Times Migration Coverage on Social Media, The New York Times
Excellence in Social Media Engagement, Medium Newsroom
- National Geographic TikTok, National Geographic
- ProPublica’s Short-Form Investigative Video, ProPublica
Excellence in Social Media Engagement, Small Newsroom
- Austin’s 2023 Ice Storm, KUT
- We need to talk about racism, The Emancipator
Excellence in Technology Reporting, Large Newsroom
- Content Moderation, Insider, Inc.
- The Post-Roe Information Crisis, Bloomberg News
Excellence in Technology Reporting, Small/Medium Newsroom
- Elon Musk takes over Twitter, The Verge, Platformer
- How Google uses secrecy, market dominance, and connections to rule tech, ProPublica
- Human Trafficking’s Newest Abuse: Forcing Victims Into Cyberscamming, ProPublica
- Still Loading, The Markup
Explanatory Reporting, Large Newsroom
- American Icon, The Washington Post
- Repowering the West, Los Angeles Times
Explanatory Reporting, Medium Newsroom
- Explaining California’s Extreme Weather in a Changing Climate, San Francisco Chronicle
- Made in Miami: The assassination of Haiti’s Jovenel Moise, Miami Herald
- The Repatriation Project, ProPublica
- Words of Conviction: Tracing a Junk Science Through the Justice System, ProPublica
Explanatory Reporting, Small Newsroom
- Deforestation Inc., International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
- The country of massacres (El país de las masacres), Vorágine
- The People vs. Rubber Bullets, Long Lead
- UXO: Lethal Legacy, Honolulu Civil Beat
Feature, Large Newsroom
- Adrift, Associated Press
- Healing through drums, The Globe and Mail
- Kate Price remembers something terrible, The Boston Globe
- The neighborhood that got it right, The Boston Globe Opinion
Feature, Medium Newsroom
- Deadliest Road in America, Vox Media
- Death on a Dairy Farm, ProPublica
- The Mercy Workers, The Marshall Project
- The Rise and Fall of the Jersey Seagull, NJ Advance Media
Feature, Small Newsroom
- Broken Borough, Spotlight PA
- No Way to Live, Capital & Main
- Police killed his son. Prosecutors charged the teen’s friends with his murder, The Appeal
- Worlds Away: Covid Care in Three Global Outposts, Undark
Gather Award in Community-Centered Journalism, Overall Excellence, Medium/Large Newsroom
- Collecting the Receipts Communities Can Use, ProPublica, Oregon Public Broadcasting, NBC News
- Inside Story, The Marshall Project, VICE News
- LAist, Southern California Public Radio
- Uvalde school shooting and its aftermath, The Texas Tribune
Gather Award in Community-Centered Journalism, Overall Excellence, Micro/Small Newsroom
- Black elders saved this couple’s Mississippi farm. Now they’re harvesting ancestral techniques—and tomatoes, Scalawag
- Covering New York’s Response to Asylum Seekers, Documented
- How Borderless used field canvassers to reach Spanish speakers, Borderless Magazine
Knight Award for Public Service
- Senior officials ordered destruction of Vallejo police shooting evidence, Open Vallejo
- Toxic Burden: How American Chemical Regulations Failed the Public, ProPublica
- Where are they? What happened to the 5000 missing women that the State does not know how to look for?, LA NACION
Online Commentary, Personal Narrative
- Generation Connie, The New York Times
- Tenderness and brutality: True stories from an ICU, The Boston Globe
- The Night Raids, ProPublica
- The Trump Tapes, The Washington Post
Online Commentary, Package of Columns
- Columnist Jeneé Osterheldt, The Boston Globe
- Columnist Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle
- We The Users, The Washington Post
Sports, Health and Wellness, Large Newsroom
- Black Out, The Washington Post
- Journey into sleep, Reuters
- Vgina, Verdens Gang (VG)
- Youth in Transition, Reuters
Sports, Health and Wellness, Small/Medium Newsroom
- It was a secret road map for breaking the law to get an abortion. Now, ‘The List’ and its tactics are resurfacing , San Francisco Chronicle
- Safer Sidelines, The Courier Journal
- The Talk, Scientific American, The Salt Lake Tribune
- Uncovered: How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients, ProPublica, The Capitol Forum
Student Journalism Award, Student Portfolio
- Pig Human Transplants and the March to Immortality, Harvard University
- The Long Shadow of White Supremacy at DePaul, 14 East Magazine
Student Journalism Award, Student Team Portfolio
- Dead Wrong, NYCity News Service and Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY
- Infodemic, Newhouse School at Syracuse University
- Marijuana: Good Medicine?, University of Mississippi
- WATERSHED, The University of Florida
The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Large Newsroom
- Cartel Rx: Fentanyl’s Deadly Surge, The Washington Post
- Crime Scene: Bucha, Associated Press, FRONTLINE, SITU Research
- Nightmare in Nigeria, Reuters
- They Lost Their Pregnancies. Then Prosecutors Sent Them to Prison, The Marshall Project, AL.com, The Frontier, The Washington Post
The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Medium Newsroom
- Buy and Bust, KFF Health News
- Friends of the Court: Clarence Thomas’ Beneficial Friendship With a GOP Megadonor, ProPublica
- The Prison Sell, The Arizona Republic
- Words of Conviction: Tracing a Junk Science Through the Justice System, ProPublica
The Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, Small Newsroom
- ‘I had to cut off the head, bro’, Radio Free Asia
- Mega Billions, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland
- Nowhere to go, Searchlight New Mexico and ProPublica
Topical Reporting: Climate Change
- Climate, migration and the far-right: How the ripples of climate change are radiating outward, NPR
- “The Coming California Megastorm”, The New York Times
- Race to Zero: California’s bumpy road to electrify cars and trucks, CalMatters
- The dirty road to clean energy: How China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment, Rest of World
Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity, Large Newsroom
- Deaths in the Family, Insider, Inc.
- Desaparecidas e Ignoradas: el peligro de ser mujer en Nuevo León, N+Focus
- Overpolicing Parents: How America’s CPS Dragnet Ensnares Families, ProPublica and NBC News
- The Protests That Shook Iran’s Clerical System, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity, Medium Newsroom
- K-Pop Dreaming, Southern California Public Radio
- Publishing Prejudice, Advance Local and The Oregonian/OregonLive
- Racism in medicine and the dire consequences, STAT
- The Repatriation Project, ProPublica
Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity, Small Newsroom
- Chicago Police Are Arresting Thousands More Black Drivers After Traffic Stops Than They Report, Block Club Chicago
- High Stakes, Silent Systems: A Rare Investigation into How States Handle the Reproductive Rights of Foster Youth, The Imprint
- Long Division: The Persistence of Race Science, Undark
- Who’s Your People?, The Assembly
University of Florida Award in Investigative Data Journalism, Large Newsroom
- Black Out, The Washington Post
- In New York Prisons, Guards Who Brutalize Prisoners Rarely Get Fired, The Marshall Project, The New York Times
- Overpolicing Parents: How America’s CPS Dragnet Ensnares Families, ProPublica and NBC News
University of Florida Award in Investigative Data Journalism, Small/Medium Newsroom
- Roots of an Outbreak, ProPublica
- Who owns the Bay Area?, San Francisco Chronicle
Thank you, judges
Judges for the OJAs are senior-level professionals working in digital journalism and join by invitation from ONA’s Awards and Recognition Committee. Judges were recused from reviewing entries from their own organizations.
The judging panels for the 2023 awards included:
- Michael Bolden, Chief Executive Officer, American Press Institute
- P. Kim Bui, Senior Director of Product and Audience Innovation, The Arizona Republic
- Rodrigo Cervantes, Senior Editor, Southern California Public Radio
- Adrian Cheung, Senior Producer, The Globe and Mail
- Paul Cheung, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Public Integrity
- Flor Coelho, New Media Research and Training Manager, La Nación
- Daniel Cooney, Social Media Producer / Coordinator, PBS NewsHour
- P. Claire Dodso, Senior Entertainment Editor, Teen Vogue
- Annemarie Dooling, Vice President, Audience Growth and Content Monetization, Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK
- Farrah Fazal, Senior Field Producer, Jupiter Entertainment
- Kim Fox, Director of Product, Reader Experience, Hearst Newspapers
- Elizabeth Gabriel, Education Reporter, WFYI Public Media
- Rodney Gibbs, Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Brittany Grant, Director, Audience Development, Marketing & Synergy, ESPN
- Shweta Gulati, Video and Mobile Storytelling Producer, National Geographic
- Nation Hahn, Chief of Growth & Founder, EducationNC
- Victor Hernandez, Chief Content Officer, WBUR
- Robert Hernández, Professor of Professional Practice, University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
- Rich Jaroslovsky, Vice President of Content & Chief Journalist, SmartNews
- Kimberly Johnson, Deputy Chief News Editor, The Wall Street Journal
- Anna Johnson, Washington Bureau Chief, The Associated Press
- Mark Katches, Editor and Vice President, Tampa Bay Times
- Tara Kelly, Data Editor, European Journalism Centre
- Adriana Lacy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adriana Lacy Consulting
- Andrew Losowsky, Head of Community Product, Vox Media
- Christine Loureiero, Digital Editor, Toronto Star
- Eric Lubbers, Chief Technology Officer, The Colorado Sun
- Samia Madwar, Senior Editor, The Walrus
- Kristine Malicse, Social Media Producer, Southern California Public Radio
- Joy Mayer, Director, Trusting News
- Meagan Meagan, Assistant Managing Editor, Newsletters, WBUR
- Viktorija Mickute, Senior Producer, AJ Contrast
- Brooke Minters, Editorial Director, Audio, The Verge
- Sarah Nasr, Executive Producer, AJ+
- R. L. Nave, Editorial Director, Audio, Reckon
- Sitara Nieves, Vice President, Teaching and Organizational Strategy, Poynter Institute
- Irene Noguchi, Head of Audio Documentaries, NPR
- Megan O’Toole, Senior Editor, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera
- Jeneé Osterheldt, Senior Assistant Managing Editor for Culture, Talent and Development, The Boston Globe
- Jenna Pirog, Visual Enterprise Editor, The Washington Post
- Ryan Pitts, Director of Network Development, OpenNews
- Christine Portela, Director of News Operations, Local Media, Univision
- Joe Posner, Head of Video, Semafor
- Christina Prignano, Senior Editor for Multimedia Storytelling, The Boston Globe
- Nikita Roy, Founder, The NRI Nation
- Thomas Seymat, Editorial Projects and Development Manager, Euronews
- Khushbu Shah, Editor, POLITICO Europe
- Sarah Shenker, Interim Head of Digital Journalism for North America, BBC News
- Leezel Tanglao, Assistant Managing Editor, Digital, The Dallas Morning News
- Troy Thibodeaux, Director of Digital News, The Associated Press
- Russ Torres, Vice President of Digital Video Content and Strategy, USA TODAY NETWORK
- Tina Trinh, Video Journalist, Voice of America
- Jason Tuohey, Managing Editor, Digital, The Boston Globe
- Sonali Verma, Independent Consultant
- Benét Wilson, Director of Media and Journalism Programs, Stand Together/Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship
- Stephanie Wilson Chapin, Strategic Partner Manager, News, Sports & TV, YouTube
- Hannah J. Wise, Product + Community Lead, Local News Lab, Brown Institute for Media Innovation
- Brandy Zadrozny, Senior Reporter, NBC News
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Karolle Rabarison
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