Each year, the Online Journalism Award committee reassesses the categories offered and provides revisions, if deemed necessary. Below is a log of the changes made since 2016.
General updates
2022 — Entries are allowed to be entered in three categories. High school and undergraduate students may only submit to the Student Journalism Award category. Graduate students may submit to all other categories.
2017 — Entries are allowed to be entered in two categories. Students may only submit to the Student Journalism Category.
General Excellence
2018 — The subcategory Micro newsroom was added
Breaking News
2022 — Entries must now be published within 72 hours of the event
2021 — Went from three subcategories (small, medium and large) to two (small/medium and large).
2018 — Entries must now be published within 36 hours of the event
Digital Video Storytelling
2024 — The subcategories were updated to honor video projects that were specifically made for social media. The four subcategories are social media, short form, long form and series.
2022 — Newsroom size categorizations were added to all four subcategories.
2020 — Subcategories were added to honor video storytelling of different lengths. The four subcategories are short form, medium form, long form and series.
2019 — This award was originally called Online Video Journalism and was offered from 2008–2011. Between 2011 and 2019, video entries were often submitted to Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling.
Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling
2024 — The subcategory current affairs was updated to daily/weekly news.
2023 — The subcategory current affairs was added to the category.
2019 — The subcategories were changed from small, medium and large to ongoing series, limited series and use of audio storytelling.
2017 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in Collaborations and Partnerships
2018 — This award was added to the program
Excellence in Community-Centered Journalism
2022 — The award name was updated from Excellence in Engaged Journalism to Excellence in Community-Centered Journalism. The two subcategories were updated to overall excellence, medium/large newsroom and overall excellence, micro/small newsroom.
2020 — The two subcategories were updated to overall excellence and micro/small newsrooms.
2019 — This award was added to the program with two sub-categories: project and portfolio
Excellence in Immersive and Emerging Technology Storytelling
2024 — This category was removed as a standalone award. Projects using immersive and emerging media are now reviewed within the Excellence in Visual Digital Storytelling category.
2023 — The category was expanded to include emerging technology. The name of this award changed from Excellence in Immersive Storytelling to Excellence in Immersive and Emerging Technology Storytelling.
2017 — This category was added to the program
Excellence in Newsletters
2021 — Added two subcategories (single newsletter and portfolio).
2020 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in Social Justice Reporting
2021 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in Social Media Engagement
2022 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in Visual Digital Storytelling
2024 – The category name was simplified from Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling to Excellence in Visual Digital Storytelling. The description was updated to include storytelling that uses virtual reality, artificial intelligence, AI chatbots, augmented reality, mixed reality, 360 video or other emerging media.
2019 — The description was changed to de-emphasize video.
Explanatory Reporting
2018 — The description was refined.
Feature
2018 — The description was refined.
Online Commentary
2023 — Two subcategories were added, personal narrative and package of columns.
2016 — Went from three size tiers to one.
Planned News
2018 — This category was removed from the program.
Sports, Health and Wellness
2023 — Category was expanded to include health and wellness coverage. The name of this category changed from Sports to Sports, Health and Wellness.
2017 — Went from three subcategories (small, medium and large) to two (small/medium and large).
Student Journalism Award
2021 — This category was added to the program.
Student Pro-Am
2021 — This category was removed from the program.
The David Teeuwen Student Award
2021 — This category was removed from the program.
Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism
2022 — This category was removed from the program.
Topical Reporting
2023 — Added race, ethnicity, gender and identity as a topic for this category. Removed olympics and paralympics coverage and pandemic coverage as topics for this category.
2022 — Added olympics and paralympics coverage as a topic for this category.
2021 — Added pandemic coverage as a topic for this category.
2020 — This category was reintroduced to highlight a specific topic. In 2020 this was climate change reporting.
2018 — This category was removed from the program.
3M Truth in Science Award
2022 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in Technology Reporting
2024 — This category was expanded to offer recognition for small, medium and large newsrooms.
2023 — This category was added to the program.
Excellence in AI Innovation
2024 — This category was added to the program.
