INN Members Dominate Online News Association Award Nods

ona_logoA stunning nine independent, nonprofit newsrooms from INN's membership have been named as finalists in this year's Online News Association Awards, a performance almost as notable as INN members' dominance of the most recent round of grants from the Ethics and Excellence In Journalism Foundation.

"INN is delighted to see the Online News Association recognize the quality and diversity of work being created by nonprofit newsrooms of all sizes," says Kevin Davis, CEO & Executive Director of the Investigative News Network.  "This is another milestone in the nonprofit journalism's movement to ensure that quality investigative journalism is there to inform the public at both the national and community level."

The nine INN finalists are:

  1. St. Louis Beacon
  2. Voice of San Diego
  3. Mother Jones
  4. ProPublica
  5. Sunlight Foundation
  6. Center for Public Integrity
  7. Center for Investigative Reporting
  8. The Nation
  9. NPR

Several members are finalists in more than one category; in total, INN members are up for a whopping 16 ONA awards.

INN spoke to Voice of San Diego managing editor Sara Libby about their nomination: "We’ve always considered our mission to be a dual effort: Educate readers and serve as a community forum on issues people are talking about; and investigating the issues people aren’t talking about.Perhaps nothing showcased those efforts better than the past two months, when the city plunged into a scandal  surrounding Mayor Bob Filner. During that period, we made sense of the issues at play, and revealed some bombshells in the process, but during that same period, we produced some serious investigations about issues that people weren’t talking about – and the impacts of those pieces are already being felt.  (For a selection of these pieces, check this week's "Stories of the Week," which is 100% award-nominated pieces from members that are now being recognized as some of the best journalism done online this year).

St. Louis Beacon editor Margaret Freivogel pointed out the same balance between depth and breadth that has developed at nonprofit newsrooms.  "The Beacon is thrilled to be again chosen as a finalist for the ONA general excellence award and honored to be among such good company. In all four finalists, you can see a common thread of attention to substantive issues that are important to our regions. And you can also see a great deal of variation in how we report on those issues and engage with our fellow citizens around them. Together, we represent the kind of innovation and experimentation that's helping us all find better ways to serve the public."