Some of Online News Associations Journalism Awards for 2007

My favorite site by far was the Oakland Tribune’s "Not Just a Number." I think that murder is a tricky topic to cover but I believe they did so in a way that was tasteful and respectful. I especially liked the puzzle. That was a really interesting way to present the risk factors for violence. I have never seen a puzzle incorporated into a multi-media presentation like that. It was very creative. The homicide map was a good way to get the viewer’s attention. Having it set up that way probably captures the audience’s attention more than a simple list of names would have. I liked that it was interactive and you could click on the numbers to see the people that they represented. I clicked on one where the deceased’s father was speaking about his murder and that was really powerful.


I really liked the concept of the "On Being" piece that people should get to know each other. I would much rather hear a story right from the source and not some cheesy reporter or something. Real people speaking about their lives is much more interesting than reading about it. I like that the filming was simple. Having the subjects just sit in a chair with a white background puts the focus completely on them. I think a lot of time people try to do too much with film and it makes it hard to know what to concentrate on. The simplicity of this was beautiful.


When I looked at Florida Today's "Space Beat," I immediately didn’t like it. I thought it was way too cluttered. I have a hard enough time trying to concentrate on things as it is so I had no idea what to look at. I did really like the 9 minutes to space multi-media presentation. That was the only thing I looked at on this site though.


"Hip- Hop 101" was really cool. I liked all of the different videos of people describing what hip- hop is to them. The entire vibe of the site was laid back and cool. It mirrored hip-hop itself. I would liked to have seen more examples of graffiti when I clicked on the graffiti videos. It seemed to me like they talked about it more than they showed examples of it. There were some examples but I would have preferred it been all examples of graffiti and the guy in the background doing a voice-over off camera.