Msnbc.com was one of the top winners announced Saturday at the 2010 Online Journalism Awards.
The news site won the award for general excellence in online journalism, large site category, at the 11th annual awards ceremony, beating out three other finalists, NPR.org, New York Magazine, and The New York Times.
Msnbc.com’s entry pointed to the site’s effort to cover the economic crisis through the prism of a single town and its citizens (http://www.elkhart.msnbc.com); its Stimulus Tracker (http://Stimulustracker.msnbc.com), which allows users to follow federal stimulus spending down to the county level; and its extensive coverage of the plight of amputees in the wake of the devastating Haitian earthquake (http://haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com/).
The site also published distinctive original content — from a blog devoted to science and space (http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/) to a franchise that advocates on behalf of consumers (http://redtape.msnbc.com/) to a destination source for politics (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com). In other efforts, msnbc.com reported on the White House's grudging release of visitor logs (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32087532) and offered a Daily Dose of myth-busting of health insurance overhaul facts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38974924/ns/health-dose_of_reality).
“It is a huge honor to be recognized as the best big news website,” said Jennifer Sizemore, msnbc.com editor-in-chief. “But what really matters is how we reach our audience — through great stories no one else has, incredible visual storytelling, and the ability to deliver all that where and when people want and need it.”
(A joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, the web site msnbc.com is a separate company from MSNBC, the TV channel.)
General excellence winners in other size categories included SA LA NACION (non-English large); The Las Vegas Sun and the Greenspun Media Group (medium); The Texas Tribune/texastribune.org (small); and the California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting (micro).
Each won $3,000.
Innovative investigative news projects and news produced for tablets and mobile devices were the winners of the three newest contest categories in the contest organized by The Online News Association, the world's largest association of online journalists.
NPR.org’s Mobile Applications took home the first award for outstanding use of emerging Platforms. ProPublica, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Frontline won $2,500 and the new Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site, for their investigative series “Law and Disorder.” The New York Times won in the large site category for “Toxic Waters.”
Launched in May 2000, the OJAs are administered by the Online News Association in partnership with the University of Miami’s School of Communication. Six awards now come with a total of $33,000 in prize money, courtesy of the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Msnbc.com also introduced new story pages that fully leverage NBC News and MSNBC video, photos, and discussions on the Newsvine social-networking site.
To view all the winners, go to Journalists.org.