2005 Arizona Press Club Awards
ONLINE
Each winning entry is followed by judges' comments
H1. Creative use of medium
7 entries
Judge: The online staff of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which was honored with a Best Use of Media award in Editor and Publisher’s 2005 EPpy Awards.
First place
Staff, azcentral.com: “Shades of fall”
www.azcentral.com/style/shadesoffall/”
“We've seen plenty of Flash photo galleries, and unless they do something special, they no longer qualify as a ‘creative use of medium.’ This one does do something special. First, it uses original music with a moodiness that is perfect for setting the scene. Then, it combines gorgeous fashion photographs intertwined with graphics that qualify as original artwork. The combination is perfect for a fashion feature, where the image and look is all-important.”
Second place
Jorge Ribas, Kerry Dinsmore, Sean Kasun and Rob Wisner, azstarnet.com:
“This site, designed for that elusive (to newspapers) 18-34 demographic, recognizes that online, you don't want to just READ about the music and entertainment scene, you want to HEAR it. The site is loaded with MP3 and features a dozen channels of streaming audio through AZNightbuzz Radio. Recent coverage of a local battle of the bands offered original video and MP3s of all participants. Album reviews and blogs are laced with MP3 clips that illustrate the writers' points. Overall, AZnightbuzz uses multimedia tools in a way that qualifies as creative. “
No third place
H2. Breaking news
5 entries
Judge: The online staff of the Virginian-Pilot, which was named best overall newspaper site in its class in the 2005 Newspaper Association of America’s Digital Edge Awards.
First place
Staff, Arizona Daily Star: “UA basketball player dies after collapse”
“Coverage of this tragic event reflected both the online benefit of speed (with the first story online within an hour of the player's death) and depth (with a slide show drawn from multiple sources) and numerous sidebars of reaction and analysis. The staff obviously resisted the urge to just get up the news, then wait till the next day to go in depth. And they paid attention to page-view feedback from their readers to know they were doing the right thing.”
Second place
Angel Rodriguez, azcentral.com: “FanBoy's Arizona Cardinals live blog”
“Breaking news doesn't always have to be a surprise, such as a planned sports event, but in such cases, online coverage does need to be continuous and interactive. This entry demonstrates how to do continuous news coverage using the unique tools of the Internet: blogs, live updates, a dynamic scoreboard, chat. Such coverage sends a clear message to online readers that this is a continuously updated Web site — which is effective promotion for the more traditional, unanticipated breaking news, as well.”
Third place
Mike Sunnucks, The Business Journal: “Google to announce Valley operations”
“This is the future of competition in local media: being willing to scoop your own print publication with your Web site in order to be the first with the story, regardless of the medium. And forcing other media to cite your Web site as the source, turning your reporter into their on-camera expert, surely is its own reward. Such breaking news coverage is using the Internet to build a more competitive culture again.”