There's projects involved really tremendous team of about a dozen reporters and editors, lawyers, designers, photographers, fact checkers and videographers. And yeah, I mean this work always takes an army and.
And without their vision, their insight and dedication. This never this project never would have happened. Newsrooms are better off with reporters like Madison, excuse me in Coos Bay. And if I could impart just one thing tonight, it's to hire trans reporters and to let them give them a space to tell their stories and represent their communities. Because we are all better off for it. So thank you to OMA thank you to the judges and thank you
real quick, I just wanna apologize to the folks that impalas focus. That's one of the cardinal sins of audio journalism is to know what you're pronouncing I did not do that. So me job to do great work. So that's that's a negligence on my part, and I apologize. Our next award honors people, projects and processes that center community needs and voices in journalism. Andrew baby girl is the director of the Agora journalism Center at the University of Oregon, where he teaches community engagement and nonfiction visual storytelling. Please welcome Andrew to the to present the gather award and Community Center journalism.
So for the fifth consecutive year, the Agora journalism center is honored to sponsor this year's gather award in Community Center journalism, with the winners of two categories, each receiving $2,500 in prize money. But before we shine the spotlight on the finalists and honor the winners, permit me to offer a glimpse into the very essence of community centered journalism. Earlier this week 120 community driven innovators assembled at Temple University to address this question. How do we advance journalism for all hosted by the Agora journalism center and journalism that matters? The Gathering United advocates, scholars, funders, community weavers, and of course, Vanguard's of journalism, including some of our past and present award finalists. We call it engaging emergence, aspiring to the belief that when you bring together diverse practitioners, each bearing their unique perspectives and experiences, meaningful ideas and equitable solutions emerge. To ensure that we had the right approach and people in the room. We partnered with organizations committed to reimagining journalism that is more engaged, collaborative, constructive, and inclusive and thanks to our sponsors, the MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation and democracy fund. We were able to make this gathering accessible. And through Philly cam, the local people powered media organization. Yes, Philly, can we produce a short video offering a glimpse into our participatory driven approach and shared insights? The following is an abbreviated version of that video and our time together.
What's so great about this event is to see how much kind of reimagining and adaptation is happening all the time.
There is this budding community of practice in this network of practitioners that's actually emerging and showing his power and for others, like collaborative journalism and solutions
journalism, and engage journalism and there was civic journalism back in the 90s. So what is the common thread?
We're talking about certain kinds of journalism dying, what we're actually seeing is a
rebirth. How do we dismantle the systems that have traditionally done harm to communities of color and to mainstream communities?
What is our responsibility to be community members first, and then trusted information stewards based on that community membership? We really are here to really try and transform whose voices count.
So for more information about engaging emergence, please visit a Gora that you oregon.edu So without further ado, here are this year's finalists, which include projects that innovatively reached underserved communities. Congratulations to all the finalists. And winners. In this micro small newsroom category, the finalists are Scalawag for black elders save this couple's Mississippi farm. Now they're harvesting ancestral techniques. And tomatoes. documented for covering New York's responses in response to asylum seekers. And borderless magazine for her borderless use fueled canvassers to reach Spanish speakers. The judges praised the underground practicality of the winning project and love the creation of a playbook to encourage other organizations to follow. follow suit and the winner of the gather award for micro small newsroom is borderless magazine. For how borderless use field cameras to reach Spanish speakers.
Thank you Andrew,
thank
you and a this is such an honor. It's such a surprise.
I really want to thank our community over all for for the this we do it for them. And for our team for believing in this idea and taking the risk and for GNI and RJ AI for being early financial supporters of this work. And we continue to experiment and expand our work with field canvassers was really exciting program that I can't wait to tell you more about as we grow and grow and grow. And Diana, I'm gonna throw it to you. Yes,
thank you for this award. This means so much. We're a very small newsroom but we're very mighty. And I just want to say a huge thank you to the immigrant immigrant communities in Chicago we do this for you.
In the medium large newsroom category. The finalists are the the Marshall Project in Vice News for Inside Story. Southern California public radio for Las ProPublica Oregon Public Broadcasting and NBC News for pro publica portfolio collecting the receipts communities can use. And the Texas Tribune for Uvalde school shooting in its aftermath. Just felt the winning project was a challenging and important story to do well, and a truly monumental effort to do it in a no surprises. respectful way. The winner of the gather award medium large newsroom is ProPublica Oregon Public Broadcasting and NBC News for ProPublica portfolio collecting the receipts communities can use.
Thank you everybody. On behalf of Oregon Public Broadcasting, broadcasting MBC and pro publica we're really pleased to accept this award. My main My name is Dan I'm with ProPublica we really set out with this project to do what many haven't been able to do which is work with indigenous communities to identify problems, investigate them and ensure that that information is useful. And there were two really big components to this in the Columbia River Basin. Journalist tested salmon for toxins and collected data about human health risks that regulators hadn't done. As also as part of this. We did work on reporting on museums, universities and agencies that continue to hold hundreds of 1000s of Native American human remains and funerary objects despite a 9090 law that requires their expeditious return to tribes and you know, in so many cases these results are shocking. We want to thank both the OJS the judges and everyone who supported this all the editors who worked on these various projects and to the organization for this recognition. Thank you
Please welcome to the stage oh when a board members Fergus Bell and EMI in a Benga
for this award, Ferguson I considered making a bunch of funny quips to introduce, thank you. I worked hard on that line. So I'm going to read it again. So we like get the lesson. Thank you. Are we ready? Okay, for this award Ferguson, I considered making a bunch of honey. Thank you. quips introduce the category, because in many ways, journalism is comedy.
Yeah, you know, we almost decided to see these folks really know how to up the temperature on policy. We can
but the punch line about climate change is how seriously unfunny it is. It is one of the most important issues facing our planet today.
And it's why in depth, accessible, interesting and digestible coverage on the issue is so important. And with that, we're here to announce the winners of the topical reporting award in climate change coverage.
This award honors excellence in online journalism covering climate change, and its impacts plural. This award comes with a $5,000 cash prize thanks to support from Mackenzie publishing.
This year's nominees took on some of the biggest issues we're facing, including electric cars political shifts, and changing weather patterns that affect our daily lives.
The finalists for the OJ a topical reporting climate change are the New York Times for the coming California megastore. NPR for climate migration in the far right, how the ripples of climate change are radiating outwards. How matters for Race to Zero, California's bumpy road to electrify cars and trucks and finally, rest of the world for the dirty road to clean energy. How China's electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment.
The judges were impressed that the winning team took a complex issue and broke it down through the people directly impacted using thoughtful reporting and visuals. The judges were hooked. As every new angle was revealed.
And the winner is NPR for climate migration and the far right how the ripples of climate change are radiating outward.
NPR this evening, so they will accept the award
please welcome to the stage director of the night Lenfest local news transformation fun Diana Lu.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Diana Liu, the director of the night Lenfest local news transformation fund. It is a mouthful and if you're not familiar with us, we are a five year joint venture between the Knight Foundation and the Lenfest and sue for journalism based here in Philadelphia. So you can just think about it like Zoe Kravitz. Two well known parent institutions with large bodies of work and legacy and in this industry, and then a separate thing with her own portfolio. So we people get confused all the time, but just think you would never tell Zoe Kravitz American woman was one of the highlights of your career. So night Lenfest fund. That's where it is exciting and grounding to be here at OMA for another year of incredibly impactful and necessary conversations about digital media. And as a Philadelphian I'm especially proud to share our city with newsletters from across the globe as we work to collectively advance the future of an industry that is equitable and responsive to community information needs. The knight award for public service is one of the most special awards add ons. In the past this honor has gone into such groundbreaking projects as 6019 at the New York Times and last year's powerful winner, Nashville Public Radio W PLN. And pro publica has deep dive on Tennessee's juvenile justice system. The award recognizes digital journalism that performs a public service for a defined and specific community through compelling coverage of a vital issue or events. These projects have lasting impact on their individual areas, and often much more broadly. Truly, each of these organizations have already run what they have already won by making a positive impact in their own backyards through their coverage of issues including gender justice, local police corruption, and the nuances of environmental regulation systems. On behalf of the Knight Foundation, I'm proud to announce the finalists of this category. Open viejo for senior officials ordered destruction of the viejo police shooting evidence. Pro Publica for toxic burden how American Chemical regulations failed the public. And La Nacion for where are they? What happened to the 5000 missing women that the state does not know how to look for. The highest praise came from the judges who said the emotional impact of this project was just astonishing. They reached back decades and created a guide to help the public and the OJ goes to Argentina's La Nacion bar where are they what happened to the 5000 missing women that the state does not know how to look for?
Thank you. Well I'm during four months a team of journalists from from the mainland ASEAN interviewed and 80 families of the 5000 women that are reported missing from decades or recent months in Argentina. Many of these families from every place in the country felt that for the first time someone was listening. These in depth project exposed and raised the agenda of the lack of capacity that the state has, with the problem of quantifying and registering and dealing with cases of missing women in Argentina and also to sustain the searches and to promote investigations with a gender perspective. The series of more than 15 pieces was the result of a multidisciplinary disciplinary team. Teamwork, including collaboration with civil society organizations like persona for leaders and missing children. We reach more than 5 million people in our audiences and demonstrated how quality and human journalism help turn these missing cases accountability into a state problem. So thank you very much for this award.
We are getting we're gonna do this. Everyone will take a moment to sort of stretch I know we woke up very early some of us were awakened to a vaguely Mashery alarm this morning at 630 in the morning. I know a lot of so tired, um, to some chairs crushing some chair yoga. I actually want to exercise some host prerogative fuckin here. So y'all know my Banga. She is kind of immune to embarrassment and my sister my twin sister recently became the choreographer for the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders goobers. Her daughter is diehard cheerleader. And my aunt came over recently and asked for my niece Ryan, to feature a cheer and so I just want to cue up this video.
To the pyramid and five, plan to lift five goats.
781378570 my god.
So I posted that video on Tiktok and left it alone because I'm not a zoom around BLT, things like that. I came back a week later and had 70,000 likes. I just wanted to blow up responses. I had a chance to do that in public so we're getting there folks. This next group of winners is so special to the OMA community because they represent the unique projects, deep bravery and a lifelong commitment to the OMA ethos. Their work sticks with sticks with us year in and year out and reminds us all of why we stay in this wild ridiculous industry. Please welcome to the stage Jim Brady, Vice President of journalism at the Knight Foundation to present the rich jarislowsky founder award.
Founders Award honors a senior level individual who is significantly advanced or made lasting contributions to the field of digital journalism and who has exhibited extraordinary commitment to the mission, value and vision of ons. This year, we honor someone who is no longer with us, but who held these values for OMA and all she touched. I'm truly honored to be here presenting this award to my late friend Mandy Jenkins. I was fortunate to be able to hire hire Mandy twice. And I'd always look forward to working together a third time that coming of course when Mandy hired this tired old man for whatever she was running. By the time she was a little farther down her career path sadly that never happened. Although we did later serve together en una born. In fact, my favorite Mandy's story comes from that time. It was the 2015 conference in LA and I as I want to do close the hotel bar. And as I started to wander back to my room, I looked out and saw a half dozen people in the pool which had closed at least five hours earlier. At the center of this rebellion, of course was Mandy. So I got up about four hours later for a breakfast breakfast meeting. I had been dumb enough to schedule and I was dragging myself toward the hotel restaurant feeling quite sorry for myself even though I had done it to myself. In the front door bounds Mandy Jenkins, who had just finished a six mile pre pre Dawn run. I don't know where Mandy got that level of energy hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year. But she did and I was I've always was in awe of Mandy's energy and her passion for everything that she did. I'm still in awe of it and her today. Mandy had a tattoo on her arm that's so wonderfully summed up how she lived her life and simply said more. And I think what we all wish we'd had with Mandy was simply that a little bit more. I can take time listing Mandy's career accomplishments, but most of you know them. And for those who don't that long list is very easy to find on the internet. What I really want to do is turn the stage over to the person best position to talk about Mandy so to accept this award on Mandy's behalf please welcome to the stage her beloved husband and a longtime friend of OMA beneficiary.
I can hear Mandy wondering where in the hell she's gonna put this thing it's a small apartment
thanks Mandy loves you all so so much. I want to joke that Mandy is to OMA as Beyonce is to women.
But I think I got that precisely backwards. Did not she had jobs she liked job she didn't. Jobs that came and went. But oh and I was always there and I can't think of anything that put a smile on her face. Faster than the work and the friends the mission of this organization. I don't remember exactly when she first started coming to these events, but I do remember how quickly it became a priority to her. One year it was just one of dozens of professional social events. On her household calendar. Then she was on the board and then she was president. On a was so appealing to Mandy because it gave her another chance to do all the parts of her jobs that she loved the most without the possibility that the money guys would abruptly shut the whole thing down. Her long to do lists that story fall and Thunderdome and facto would occasionally burn her out but I don't think she ever got tired of making friends. Helping friends make other friends. Guiding more junior colleagues and brainstorming solutions to heart problems. In short, what you all do oh and I allowed her to fill as much of her time as she wanted with those tasks and she really didn't think of them as tasks just her life. One reason oh Na has grown so much I think is because it serves the necessary purpose during the training time in our industry. A generation earlier. I think Mandy might have been content to be a new leader within a large stable newsroom, where relationships and ideas can blossom over the course of years. But in our era, we have to make our own communities and that's what OMA has done. I know she cherished that she saw how much other journalists needed that to to all of you who played a role in making LMA what it is today. No you had Mandy's deepest appreciation in 2018 when Mandy arrived at the JFK program at Stanford it quickly became clear that the program's requirements for a big capstone project were far more strenuous on paper than in reality. But she did the work. She flew to interviews and other states for her project on disinformation. She sincerely spent long nights talking to me about why people believe news that anybody with a middle school education could see was clearly misleading or wrong. And she spent weekends grinding on the writing. I asked her what would happen if she just didn't do it. She said something like I uprooted our lives for this program. I have no job for a year and all the resources in the world at my fingertips. What am I doing out here if not this project? Of course she saw it that way. It's not a surprise to anybody. Who knows Mandy. She took advantage of every resource she had, including her time which turned out to be limited. When we're all tempted to follow the path of least resistance in life. I hope we can remember and honor Mandy's energy that Jim talked about for Mandy whenever you can try to do something new for yourself and something kind for somebody else. To that end, I'm happy to announce tonight in conjunction with Mandy's family in mind and the Kent State School of media and journalism the Mandy Jenkins Memorial Scholarship. With your help this endowed fund will on an ongoing basis indefinitely provide critical financial support to high achieving students in senior leadership positions at Kent State student media. If this scholarship can help even one young journalist spend a semester leading a newsroom on campus instead of making can't coffee off campus. It will be a wonderful credit to her memory. As you know, Mandy believes strongly that journalism cannot thrive if it's only an option for the well off. Thank you for your support. Thank you for this award. It means so much to all of us. And anyone who knew her Thank you.
Since her son's murder at the hands of ISIS Diane Foley has worked tirelessly for the return of journalists taken hostage abroad. She founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation in September 2014. Less than a month after his public execution. Diane is currently serving as the president and executive director of JW Flf. Please welcome Diane Foley to the stage.
evening, everyone, I'm so delighted to be here. I just like to ask you for a moment to remember to us journalists who are held captive right now. Austin Tice in Syria, and ever Gurkha whips in Russia. And I'd like to invite you all to the James Foley freedom run, which helps the Foley Foundation to help them come home. So thank you for that. Sir James Foley award honors the legacy of our son Jim, who through the continued work of you brave journalists who do this important work around the world. You put yourselves at risk to bring us the news and trusted reporting from war zones. I am so honored to introduce this year's winner, photographer Finbar O'Reilly, who most recently has been on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, bearing witness through his skilled lens as a frequent contributor to the new york times over the past 20 years, Finbar has covered conflict and resilience around the world. First at Reuters, covering war West and Central Africa, and later the Middle East. He was the laureate of the 2020 karmic Knack photo journalist award, which resulted in a two year project to books and multiple exhibitions about the Democratic Republic of Congo. Finbar was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and is also the co author of shooting ghosts, a joint memoir he wrote with a US Marine after returning from Afghanistan. But beyond his many credentials, it is Finn bars moral courage in photo journalism, his commitment to mentoring and safety and social justice that truly continues Jim's legacy. So I'm greatly honored to present this year's James Foley award to Finbar O'Reilly.
I never had the chance to meet James Foley. So, I asked a former recipient of this award, Nicole tang to tell me a bit about her good friend, Jim. And she told me about his warmth and generosity. About how he was always ready to help other journalists and colleagues with information, ideas and contacts. He never saw other journalists as competitors, but rather as fellow fellow storytellers, working toward the same goal. What's different about this award, I think, is that it's not for a photograph or a specific story, or even just general reporting from a country at war. It's more about that spirit of generosity and concern for our community of storytellers that Jim embodied, and within the context of that legacy, I'm deeply honored to be here tonight. We're living in the most documented time in human history. Billions of us carry these little cameras around in our pockets. And we're inundated daily by images and videos from around the world. With that relentless flow comes propaganda lies, misinformation, disinformation. As journalists, our job is to cut through that noise. And to deliver considered and trustworthy reporting. But we're under greatest threat than ever before. 1700 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in the last 20 years. Friends and colleagues are being jailed, beaten and murdered for their work. international journalists receive the most intention attention when things go wrong. But the greatest and most persistent threats are actually faced by local journalists in places like Mexico, Congo, Syria, Iraq, Yemen. Of the 17 journalists killed in Ukraine since Russia's invasion last year. 11 of them or Ukrainian. Ethiopia, China, Iran and other authoritarian countries are jailing journalists at alarming rates. As Dan pointed out, the Wall Street journalist Evan Gursky, which has been impeached. charges on top of all of that there's a somewhat depressing reality that no individual photograph or story really shifts the course of any conflict. So what drives us then to do this kind of work in the face of these risks and this sometimes sense of futility? For me, at least there's an anger and anger against the injustices of the world that are brought into sharp relief by war. And then there's the desire to challenge and to refuse to accept the kinds of cruelty and crimes so often committed in war. That becomes the motivating force. The alternative, the idea of not using our storytelling skills, of not recording snapshots of history in real time or of not documenting war crimes as they unfold. That idea of inaction becomes morally unacceptable. Our individual contributions may be small, but the hope is that collectively, the consistent flow of powerful reporting and the kinds of moving stories that we've seen boarded here tonight produced by a broad and diverse community of journalists can penetrate those layers of profit, propaganda of lies, and disinformation and misinformation to inform the public and influence those decision makers who can actually shape the direction of conflicts and the course of human history. I suspect, Jim, believe this, that collectively as a community of storytellers, we hold the power to make some difference. And we also have a duty to look after each other. So in this spirit, and in his memory, I'm grateful to you Diane for keeping Jim's memory and values alive. Through this award. Thank you
It's me again, gang. I am the award tonight and I'm just kidding. We are up here for one of my favorite awards of the night. Oakland A's community award. Celebrating small organizations punching above their weight is one of the most impactful things that we can do with OMA and tonight's winner does exactly that. The community award celebrates those who create and foster an inclusive environment, allowing journalists to do game changing work. It's so easy for achievements like these to be overshadowed by busy daily news operations and recognition given to individual projects and stories. The community Award is an opportunity to lift up those behind the scenes colleagues, who've had an extraordinary impact on the field by bolstering a sense of belonging and creating a space for innovative work. This year's winner is a leader in science journalism, on a toy riously complex area that's challenging to make connections with the audience. Siri Carpenter, is a co founder and editor in chief of the open notebook a nonprofit, you can clap. Siri deserves all your applause. The open notebook is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help journalists improve their skills covering science, health, technology, and the environment. She is also the editor of the book The craft of science writing. I am so pleased to present the OJ community award to see carpenter and now you all can clap. For her even more.
Thank you so much to OMA and to the awards and recognition committee and to all the volunteer judges. I'm absolutely thrilled and humbled to accept this award. It means a tremendous amount to me because building community is core to our values at the open notebook. We are a nonprofit that offers training and mentoring and educational resources to journalists who cover science or want to cover science. And we've been doing that for 12 years. But what does covering science mean in 2023? What did covering science end up meaning starting in 2020? It meant discerning what's true and what's not. It meant interrogating events and broadening our definition of expertise to include people whose lived experience needs and deserves to be heard. We as journalists certainly needed to use all those skills when we covered COVID, nationally and locally. But ultimately, those skills also just describe what it means to be a journalist today. All journalists need science journalism skills, especially because the challenges we face in covering science are becoming more complex. And yet in every community, there are science stories that matter to the people living them living there. And there are reporters striving to tell those stories. That might mean stories about climate, gun violence. Forever chemicals in drinking water, life threatening wildfires, housing, or just about anything else, because science is part of every story. We've published more than 500 articles and a book that delve into the craft of covering science and we've also translated nearly 100 of our articles into Spanish articles that are read by journalists throughout Latin America and the US. We teach people fundamentals like how to read a scientific study, or how to find experts to interview we also help people understand specialized topics, like how to cover addiction and substance use artificial intelligence or trans youth healthcare. But there's a goal driving everything we do. We want to make the open notebooks resources accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world, and to center the work and the ideas of people from communities that have historically been excluded from science journalism, or who have told us again and again, that they lack access to formal training opportunities. This goal shows up in how we approach our stories, our mentoring programs or courses, and the makeup of our contributors, our editorial team and our board. Most journalists don't think of science as their beat, but many do want to develop their skills and confidence in including scientific information and perspectives in their stories. One of our fastest growing programs is our peer mentoring community for local and general assignment reporters who want to be better equipped to incorporate scientific evidence into their stories. And if that sounds like you, please get in touch with me. None of our work would be possible if it weren't for our community. To me, community means the generosity of people who are willing to share their hard won insights and advice to help and support their colleagues. Community means the shared belief that just because we struggled to learn something, it doesn't mean others should have to do the same. And that instead Our job is to make it easier for others. And finally, community means recognizing the reality that people aren't all offered the same opportunities and we should do everything in our power to help people get those opportunities. So as I say, we couldn't do this work without our community and the opportunity to learn from every single person. And of course, we couldn't do this work either without our donors or our foundation partners that support our work, which also if that sounds like you get in touch with me. This is a community that fundamentally believes in extending a hand to all of us who are striving to tell stories about science. I have felt so grateful to be among that community and I'm so grateful for this award Thank you.
Present the last of the special awards, please welcome to the stage, the Vice President of Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives at Southern California Public Radio, public radio ha stand up was good. And now also known as LA's and own a board member, Ashley Alvarado.
The community, it's why I work in journalism. It's in my title. And in my organization, las we've built an entire department around community and audience engagement. We believe deeply that listening is how we strengthen and grow our impact. That's why I'm so excited about this next award. It's actually one of like 17 reasons I'm super excited about this award. The OMA Impact Award honors a trailblazing individual or individuals whose work in digital journalism and dedication to innovation exhibit substantial impact on the industry. I am honored to announce the winners of the OJ Impact Award gene Friedman radowski and Kashi Haynes these home
this is great because every single client when I say these hometowns she rose founded resolve Philly in 2018 to build opportunities for journalists to report collaboratively and more accurately, to better reach and serve their communities and to create practices rooted in equity. Jeanne and Cassie have changed how we as journalists bridge information gaps for Philadelphians through engagement and storytelling collaborations like broken Philly with 29 newsroom partner newsrooms, a bilingual text line and establishing city Bureau's documentary is here. And overall they've paved the way and encouraged similar mission driven organizations to experiment please join me in congratulating Jean and Cassie.
Wow, thank you so much to Ashley to the LMA board digital No, I'm not a journalist. You're too team resolve our staff and our board who make all of this work possible. We love you. Thank you.
So some of you may be wondering Who are we what's resolve? Really briefly resolved. Philly is an unconventional newsroom, one that we believe is a model for the future of local news. Our work revolves around three core pillars, editorial products based in participatory and community responsive journalism, a steadfast commitment to bridging the information divide by meeting people where they're at with news and information and routing all of our work in deep collaboration. We in journalism can no longer afford to pretend that any local news organization can serve its community without figuring out ways to do these three things. Well.
When Jean and I first started this work more than five years ago, we for sure, never would have imagined we would be on this stage today or really any day at the beginning the most common response to the things that we were doing. Were raised eyebrows and not eyebrow raises in the EU so impressive way. But in the rally. That's what you're going to do kind of skeptical way.
Our predecessor initiative the reentry project brought together 13 newsrooms to do solutions journalism around one single topic at a time when this was virtually unheard of. And in a city that was known as one of the most competitive local media markets in the country. When we started that project, we got some eyebrow raises.
And then the two of us joined forces. I from journalism and I from a myriad of other places. And that
prompted more eyebrow raises. Then rather than carving out separate roles. We decided to share leadership by being co executive directors, something that was at the time a very uncommon model
and again, the eyebrows were raised. The most frequent question we heard at the time was, so who, who really makes the decisions though?
We kept on paving our own unorthodox way. We built a team that now comprises a tapestry of professional and life experiences. We partnered with community organizations rather than just reporting about their constituents.
Instead of us deciding what to report on we asked people what information would be useful in their lives, and then we figured out how to get them that information.
We grew the longest standing most dynamic local news collaboration in the nation, and it's still going
in building result Philly we also refuse to uphold workplace policies, practices, and structures rooted in white supremacy. We look to other models or more often we invented our own in the end our organization is a place where people feel safe bringing their whole selves to work. We did this not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because when people feel valued and respected in their jobs, they're able to show up more authentically and joyfully in their work, which leads to greater community impact.
We are not the only ones doing many of these things. We were surrounded this week by allies and Ally organizations who are as deserving of this honor as we are
so as we accept this award, we want to acknowledge and celebrate those out there who are doing things that raise eyebrows. We see you
whether your entire organization is challenging norms, or you're pushing boundaries within a large seemingly intractable institution. What you do matters. keep on keepin on, no matter the response, let them raise their eyebrows. Let them question your every approach.
The honor and also the poetic timing of this award on the heels of my departure as CO executive director is not lost on us.
So once again, thank you to the OMA board to all of you to our team. Thanks so much.
Our next award honors work that best features and presents data journalism on digital and mobile platforms. Harrison Hove is the interim director of the innovation New Center at the University of Florida, where students work alongside broadcast professionals to bring in students work alongside broadcast professionals to bring impactful stories to communities in Florida. Please welcome Harrison to present the University of Florida award for investigative data journalism.
Hello, everybody, as and as mentioned by Jean I am Harrison Hove, the interim director of the innovation News Center at the University of Florida, within the College of journalism and communications. I'm going to just jump off script for one second and say, you know, so much of what we talked tonight is about empowering and elevating members of our community as journalists. But I also want to share with you that your work is the inspiration and the motivation of that next generation of journalists as well. Their eyes are on you, and I'm grateful that you're contributing such quality pieces and storytelling to support and lift up big J journalism. So thank you for that. Now, on behalf of the college I am pleased to recognize today's finalists and winners. of the award in investigative data journalism. The award is now in its 10th year, and it's made possible by the estate of Lorraine Dingman. It salutes high impact journalism that effectively uses and presents data in a compelling way. UF is honored to present this award in partnership with the online news Association. The winning organizations tonight will each receive $7,500 as a prize. Winners will also be invited to come down to sunny Florida and share their expertise in data reporting with students and faculty members at the college this coming spring. Every year we have more and more ways to use technology and dig into data to uncover stories that make change in our communities. We had a wealth of riches this year with the finalists who all took initiative and innovative approaches to analyzing complex issues from pollution to police misconduct, and testing to tick tock. The finalists in the small medium newsroom category are pro publica. For roots of an outbreak and the San Francisco Chronicle for who owns the Bay Area. The judge has said the winner is an ambitious and illuminating project with elegant design and interactivity. Easily explaining a complex problem. The OJ A goes to pro publica for roots of an outbreak.
Thank you so much to the online news Association, the judges the University of Florida for this recognition. We know that it's been three years since the COVID 19 pandemic began we got an email even today that suggested that it is not over. And that is the root of this work. We wanted to understand where would the next pandemic come from and special thanks to credit to all of the reporters, visual journalists, editors and many others who spent resources to go overseas and find the answer that question and understanding how the destruction of the environment and how that is continuing to happen. Really is potentially going to plant the roots of the next outbreak. This requires incredible resources. So again, thank you to all of you for this recognition and of course to our funders large and small for the ability to do this kind of work. Thank you
all right. And in the large newsroom category. The finalists tonight are the Washington Post for blackout. The Marshall Project and The New York Times for in New York. Prisons. Guards who brutalized prisoners rarely get fired. And pro publica and NBC News for over policing parents how America CPS dragnet ensnares families this entry has everything according to the judges scope, context background impact. It's also beautifully designed and the winner is The Washington Post for blackout.
nearly 20 years after the NFL is implementation of the Rooney rule we wanted to know does the experience of black head coaches differ from that of their peers? Emily GM Volvo and NC Morse pursued a first of its kind data analysis investigating three decades worth of data on the hiring, performance retention and professional networks to analyze the performance and career paths of all NFL head coaches since 1990. Examining the data, the post discovered that the inequity in NFL coaching was not only quantifiable but in many ways getting worse. Over seven months more than 60 posts, reporters, photographers and video journalist traveled the country to interview 16 of the 24 living black men who served as NFL head coaches, as well as former players assistants, executives, agents and others. We produced a 12 part series that highlights the collaboration across the post newsroom to tell stories in new and innovative ways. Thank you to OMA and the judges for this award.
Please welcome to the stage vice president for content and chief journalist at Smart news rich jarislowsky
Thank you. I'm always thrilled to be here at OMA as one of the founding members. It's incredibly exciting to see the enthusiasm, the passion of the new generations of journalists who are taking our mission into the future. At smart news we work with many of you who are here tonight. So it's a special pleasure to sponsor and present this year's General Excellence in online journalism awards. These awards recognize the best of the best organizations that are producing the most outstanding overall work day in and day out, successfully fulfilling their editorial missions, effectively serving their audiences, making full use of the power of the medium and representing the highest journalistic standards. winners receive a prize of $5,000. There are four awards based on the size of the newsroom. But if there's one lesson to draw from tonight's winners and nominees, it's that there's no correlation between size and quality. Excellence is found wherever journalism meet smart people with high standards, a sense of the story and how best to tell it. So let's get to it. The finalists for the General Excellence in online news micro news category are civil eats
the pudding and on dark the judges said the winning site uses creativity and technology to address deep topics, but to do so, in a fun and remarkably accessible way. And they go GA for excellence in online journalism goes to the putting
congratulations to the pudding and OMA accepts the award on their behalf. In the small newsroom category. The finalists are the Center for Public Integrity Honolulu Civil Beat and the markup. The judges were impressed with the winners unique approach to delivering essential journalism to its community. They noted the team's deep understanding of its audience and ability to find ways to reach listen to and engage that audience effectively. Plus, their haiku content was a joy and the Oh ja goes to Honolulu Civil Beat.
Wow, I totally did not expect this. You know, I'm the only guy from Honolulu Civil Beat that we sent RNA this year. A half dozen events were supposed to come but just about three, three weeks ago almost this Tuesday. The fires in the hyena and in upcountry Maui and on the Big Island. Devastating 115 deaths so far that I know of a lot of missing people. And we couldn't send all those people. We've been working nonstop day after day. I was just checking my Twitter feed sorry, I know that's a forbidden here x but there's another fire in Kaanapali just now because it's six hours earlier the islands it looks like it's contained. It looks like the evacuation is not happening. But I can just tell you that this award is really really for a hell of a team and this is really going to make our our work all the more special. Thank you so much on a
and now for the medium newsroom category. Here the finalists are K FF health dudes
pro publica
the Marshall Project and The Verge. The judges said the winning organization stood out not only because it's journalism is a true public service, but because it's also beautiful with audio and visuals that elevates stories and provide important context about complicated subjects. The organization's commitment to collaboration with local newsrooms across the country is also a model for journalism's future and the Oh ja for General Excellence in online journalism goes to the Marshall Project.
Thanks for this and I really want to introduce you all to a remarkable human being is the heart of the Marshall Project. Lawrence Lawrence Bartley Well, thank you Joe.
Well, thank you for this award. We truly appreciate it. We work hard. I'm really proud of my my mockable team up here with Joe and Nicole and it's an honor to win the award amongst so many worthy finalists and thank you all have a good night.
Our final award of the is the General Excellence Award for large newsrooms here the finalists this year are the Globe and Mail
The New York Times and The Washington Post. The judges cited the winners world class storytelling, making use of gorgeous animation and 3d model incredibly powerful state of the art journalism, the challenges beliefs and whose influence will be felt for years to come. And the winner is The Washington Post.
Hi, I'm Courtney Kahn. I'm a senior project editor at the Washington Post and I'm honored to accept this award on our behalf. Congratulations to our fellow finalists, the Globe and Mail in the New York Times. I want to thank our interim CEO Patty Stonesifer, our executive editor Sally Buzbee our managing editors Chris Thompson, Justin bank, and Barbara beta this award really goes to our entire staff, everyone in the newsroom, engineering products, business partners and many past colleagues who contributed to this work as well. This word really shows the breadth of what we do with the post. Every storytelling approach and form is really represented in the entry we put forth from rigorous accountability reporting to unflinching visual journalism to a daily rundown of the most important and interesting stories in the seven podcast and newsletter from the 3d illustrations in the blast effect to Bob Woodward, opening his notebook and releasing 20 interviews with Trump. Including audio for the public archive to the post picking up and finishing the work when others could not. I believe this award is a recognition of our ability to collaborate, our willingness to experiment, we respond swiftly and push aside ego to respond to breaking news to make our projects and our products better. And we push each other to make our coverage more visual and more accessible every day. Thank you again.
To all the nominees and winners, thank you all for your incredible hard work this year. Your tenacity spirit and ability to tell great stories is an inspiration to all of us. Congratulations. Now.
Now I'll hand it back to Gene demby to take us home. Thank you
Rachel, as we say, coinswitch. That's our show. Big props. To everyone who won tonight. I'll read if using gratulations to all the finalists. Please continue to share your support and Congrats to all of your colleagues on social media using hashtag OJ 23 and OMA applications for next year's OJ A's will open in May. So keep doing amazing work you always do and come to Atlanta next year on a 24 which will be hosted by ludicrous. Alright, we're dismissed. Go get ready for your glam shots. Join us for the second repeat outside take photos and congratulate all the winners
