Tom Curley

Leading digital journalists from across the world will gather for the Fifth annual Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet on Nov. 12-13 in Hollywood, Calif. Highlights of this year's ONA conference will include a keynote speech by Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley; a debate over the Net's role in the election; and a unique new competition among conference attendees to determine who is the "Master of the Web Universe."

Curley, the former publisher of USA Today, will present a can't-miss speech, as he is currently heading up the ambitious eAP effort to transform the world's largest news organization for the digital age.

Another can't-miss event will be the ONA's first-ever online news problem-solving competition, "Master of the Web Universe: The Ultimate Challenge." Attendees will form teams that will compete against each other to create the best solutions to real-world scenarios. The competition will test conference participants' creativeness, collaboration and resourcefulness. Conference attendees will then help our panel of celebrity judges -- MarketWatch CEO Larry Kramer, Lawrence World-Journal New Media Director Rob Curley and Latimes.com Executive Producer Elaine Zinngrabe – decide who wins the competition and is crowned Master of the Web Universe.

"Since we're a gathering of online journalists, we wanted to make this a truly interactive conference," says Conference Chair Jonathan Dube. "We'll have a fantastic lineup of speakers, but we also wanted to tap our talented attendees, who are some of the sharpest minds in the business. Our 'Master of the Web Universe' competition will create a fun new way for attendees to share ideas and learn from each other."

With Hollywood-themed titles, panel discussions at the conference will provide media leaders and online journalists with ideas that they can take back to their newsrooms on everything from business to content, including topics such as: "Survivor -- The Newsroom: How to Get Shovelware Off Your News Island" and "Extreme Makeover: How to Make Your Site Gorgeous, Friendly and Popular."

Since the conference follows the 2004 Presidential elections, this year's program will also feature a keynote panel of experts debating what role the Internet -- from bloggers to online news sites -- played in how the media covered the Presidential elections. Stay tuned for exciting details about the politicians and journalists on this panel.

For those interested in hands-on training, the ONA and the Society for News Design will be offering an option full-day workshop -- taught by journalists, for journalists -- in which you'll you’ll learn the basics of multimedia storytelling, including how to pick a project, set up your team and develop an effective workflow. In addition, you’ll get an introduction to Macromedia Flash, as well as some surprisingly full-featured free and shareware solutions for video and audio editing. Space is limited, so sign up now to be sure to get a spot ($125 for Online News Association members; $175 for non-members).

WiFi access will be available throughout the conference facilities and attendees will be able to post their comments on the ONA's Participants' Weblog throughout the conference -- from their own laptops or computer stations.

The capstone of the conference will take place on the evening of Nov. 13 when the Online Journalism Awards are announced at the ONA's annual banquet, this year catered by Wolfgang Puck. The awards honor excellence in English-language Web journalism and are administered by the Online News Association and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

The full conference agenda and registration information for the conference and multimedia workshop are available at http://www.journalists.org/conference. A special early-bird rate for Online News Association members of $339 is available until Sept. 3, so sign up now!

Sponsors of the conference so far include: Platinum: CNN.com; Gold: New York Times Digital; Bronze: washingtonpost.com, Knight Ridder Digital; Associations: NAA New Media Federation and Society of News Designers.

If you're interested in sponsorship opportunities or have other questions about the conference, please contact Conference Chair Jonathan Dube at Jonathan.Dube@msnbc.com. More information will be posted on journalists.org/conference as it becomes available.