July 20, 2005 is the deadline for entries in the 2005 Online Journalism Awards, offered by the Online News Association. You can enter online.
This morning, ONA president Tom Regan confirmed with me that works of citizen journalism are welcome in this contest -- as long as those stories also fit within any of the contest's categories.
As far as I can tell, it doesn't look like this contest has been promoted much to citizen journalists. However, since we're welcome, we might as well leverage this opportunity to build constructive relationships with mainstream news orgs and professional journalists...
CALLING ALL CITIZEN JOURNALISTS
...And the news professionals and organizations who work with them...
There's still time to get some decent representation of the best of citizen journalism in this contest. Due to ease and cost of publishing, most citizen journalism is published online anyway.
Do you have a favorite recent work of citizen journalism? Contact the author today, point them to this posting, and encourage them to enter the contest. It doesn't need to be a huge story, it just needs to be a good one. Start today, because they're not allowing any exceptions to the entry deadline.
If your news organization provides a venue for citizen journalism or community news, or if you're engaged in any way with citizen journalists, now would be a good time to reach out to these people and encourage them to submit their work for these awards. News organizations which do this would not only appear cutting-edge, but forward-looking and involved in shaping the future of journalism.
Go for it!
I'm confused. Did we need this confirmed? Some of us have been entering for the past twp years now. ;)
(Tho I suspect that the new "under-100,000 visitors per month" division in some of the categories makes at least marginally more likely for a "citizen journalism" submission to get anywhere.)
Posted by: The One True b!X | July 04, 2005 at 10:58 AM
Actually, *I'm* the one who needed this confirmed since it wasn't explicitly stated in the contest information. (Rule 1 of journalism: If you're not 100% sure, ask someone who would be in a position to offer a definitive answer.)
I'm glad that you and other citJers have been entering in years past. I simply would like to see increased participation. It does seem to be an ideal way to increase the profile and credibility of citJ, while also fostering better relationships between citizen journalists and news professionals.
- Amy Gahran
Posted by: Amy Gahran | July 04, 2005 at 11:18 AM
I'm actually kind of curious (my snarkiness aside) if the new "under-100,000" division for some of the categories is in response to the growth of blogs and citizen journalism sites.
Posted by: The One True b!X | July 04, 2005 at 02:31 PM