LOS ANGELES -- The finalists for the fifth annual Online Journalism Awards (OJAs) were announced Thursday by the Online News Association (ONA) and the USC Annenberg School for Communication. The contest, which honors excellence in digital journalism, was judged by a team of distinguished journalists during a two-day event on the USC campus on Oct. 1 and 2. A list of the finalists in each of the 16 categories is provided below, along with a list of the judges.

The winners will be announced at the OJA Awards Banquet during the fifth national conference of the Online News Association, which will be held Nov. 12-13 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. The conference will feature a keynote speech by Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley, as well as a debate over the Net's role in the election and a competition among conference attendees to determine who is the "Master of the Web Universe." Visit http://www.journalists.org to register and find
more conference information.

"The finalists for this year's Online Journalism Awards represent the finest work being done in online news today," said Doug Feaver, President of the Online News Association and executive editor of Washingtonpost.com. "The finalists show us that online journalism is maturing. Sites large and small are learning how to tell compelling stories, cover the news, give advice and investigate wrongdoing through the use of text, audio, video and graphics brought together with increasingly creative designs."

"We saw a higher quality of journalism this year with Web sites carrying reports of great importance with substantial depth," said Michael Parks, director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "There was also greater attention to the audiences the Web sites were serving. And innovation -- in content as well as presentation -- continues to be a principal characteristic of online journalism."

The contest was coordinated by Rebecca Fairley Raney, Annenberg contest project manager, and John Granatino, vice president of news and operations at Belo Interactive and chairman of ONA's Awards Committee. Members of the committee include CBS MarketWatch Managing Editor Neil Chase and Michael Silberman, Deputy Editor, East Coast, Partners & Strategy for MSNBC.

The finalists and the winners were selected through a two-step process.First, a group of 70 journalists screened entries in each category and narrowed them to a set of five to 10 nominees. These nominees were then reviewed by the OJA judges, a group of 13 journalists with extensive experience in new and old media, who met at USC to pick the finalists and the winners. The winners will be announced Nov. 13 at the ONA conference. The winning sites will receive a special plaque and a certificate, while finalists will receive a certificate.

The Online Journalism Awards received 500 English-language entries from Web sites in the United States and abroad. The judges followed a strict recusal policy, leaving the judging room during discussions and not voting in any category in which their own sites came up for review.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the USC Annenberg School for Communication (www.annenberg.usc.edu)is among the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,700 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg offers B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in journalism, communication, and public relations.

This is the list of judges for the 2004 awards:

Beau Brendler, director, Consumer Reports WebWatch;
Merrill Brown, founder and principal, MMB Media LLC;
Doug Feaver, executive editor, Washingtonpost.com and president of the Online News Association;
Sue Gardner, director, CBC.Ca;
Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer, CNN.com;
Rich Jaroslovsky, editor at large, Bloomberg News;
Chris Jennewein, director of Internet operations, Union-Tribune Publishing Co.;
Kevin P. McKenna, Circuits editor, The New York Times;
Anthony Moor, editor, OrlandoSentinel.com;
Robert Niles, Editor, Online Journalism Review;
Michael Parks, professor and director, School of Journalism, USC Annenberg School for Communication;
Kevin Roderick, journalist and creator of L.A. Observed blog;
Neal Scarbrough, vice president and editor-in-chief, ESPN.com.

Here is the list of finalists:

General Excellence, large sites (more than 500,000 unique visitors/month)

- BBC News Online
- CNN.com
- Wall Street Journal Online
- WashingtonPost.com

General Excellence, small sites (fewer than 500,000 unique visitors/month)

- Center for Public Integrity
- Congressional Quarterly
- PBS Frontline/World
- PBS P.O.V.
- Ventura (CA) County Star

Creative Use of the Medium, large sites

- "Haiti: The Eroding Nation," South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
- "Israel's Security Barrier," WashingtonPost.com
- "Laci Peterson coverage," CourtTV.com
- "Last Full Measure of Devotion," St. Petersburg Times
- "Tour de France," Agence France-Presse

Creative Use of the Medium, small sites

- Games, GothamGazette.com
- Greenland: Land of Ice and Snow, WBUR-FM, Boston
- P.O.V.'s Borders: Environment, PBS
- Projo.com's "Tribute to our Troops," Belo Interactive

Enterprise Journalism, large sites

- "Betrayal in the Ranks," DenverPost.com
- "Coaches Who Prey," SeattleTimes.com
- Prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib, CBSNews.com
- "Runaway Priests," DallasNews.com, Belo Interactive
- "The Search for Eddie Peabody," HoustonChronicle.com

Enterprise Journalism, small sites

- "Booking and Bidding Sight Unseen," Consumer WebWatch
- "Frontline/World Fellows Program," PBS
- "Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Darryl Hunt," Winston Salem Journal
- "Silent Partners: How political non-profits work the system," Center for Public integrity

Breaking News, large sites

- "Coverage of the Capture of Saddam Hussein," NYTimes.com
- "Firestorm 2003," Sign on San Diego
- "The Capture of Saddam Hussein," WashingtonPost.com

Breaking News, small sites

- Accident at Disneyland, MousePlanet.com
- Murder coverage, Fresno Bee
- PE.com's Wildfire coverage, Belo Interactive
- "Serial Shootings," NBC4 Columbus

Online Commentary, large sites

- Ad Report Card by Seth Stevenson, Slate
- "Best of the Web Today," OpinionJournal.com
- Christopher Dickey's Shadowland, Newsweek
- Nicholas D. Kristof, NYTimes.com
- Terri Cullen, WSJ.com
- Words: Woe & Wonder, CBC News

Online Commentary, small sites

- Dan Gillmor's eJournal, Knight Ridder
- Mark Glaser, Online Journalism Review
- Pressthink by Jay Rosen

Specialty Journalism, large sites

- "Canada Votes," CBC News
- MayoClinic.com
- "Movies.nytimes.com," NYTimes.com
- "Outdoors," LATimes.com
- "Super Bowl coverage," HoustonChronicle.com

Specialty Journalism, small sites

- CowboysPlus, Belo Interactive
- CQ Homeland Security, Congressional Quarterly
- WBUR Online Arts, WBUR-FM, Boston

Service Journalism, large sites

- "Adverse Drug Reaction Database," CBC News
- "Building Homes, Building Problems," OrlandoSentinel.com
- "Cell Phones," ConsumerReports.org
- "Online B-Schools Channel," BusinessWeek.com

Service Journalism, small sites

- PE.com's Epicenter, Belo Interactive
- Projo.com's The Station Fire, Belo Interactive
- "Toxic Treats," Orange County Register

Student Journalism

- Chiloe Stories, University of North Carolina
- Friendship Project, Ball State University
- Making it in L.A., University of Southern California
- Ten Years On, University of North Carolina

Best Student Web site

- NewsLink Indiana, Ball State University
- Web Devil, Arizona State University