Online News Association

The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization made up of more 2,000 members. It is the world’s largest association of digital journalists.

The majority of ONA members are professional online journalists. The association defines "professional members" as those "whose principal livelihood involves gathering or producing news for digital presentation." These include news writers, producers, programmers, bloggers,designers, editors, photographers and others who produce news for the Internet or other digital delivery systems. Other members include journalism educators, journalism students, business development, marketing and communications professionals in the media and those interested in the field of online journalism.

The Online News Association administers the Online Journalism Awards, the only awards honoring excellence in digital journalism. The OJAs focus on independent, community, nonprofit, major media and international news sites. Ten awards now come with a total of $60,000 in prize money, courtesy of the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The awards were launched in May 2000 as a joint effort of the Online News Association and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Winners are announced at the annual conference.

The organization holds an annual conference and awards banquet in the U.S., the Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet, which features three days of training, leading media keynotes and a Career Summit & Job Fair. Past keynote speakers include: Twitter’s Evan Williams; Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer of the United States in the Obama administration; AOL CEO Tim Page; then-NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, and journalists instrumental in the Arab Spring uprising. Since 2015, it has also held a shorter conference in Europe. Past conferences:

Starting in 2011, MJ Bear Fellowships have been awarded to three promising journalists under the age of 30. The fellowships “identify and celebrate young digital journalists, working independently or for a company or organization, who have demonstrated — through professional experimentation, research or other projects — that they deserve support for their efforts and/or vision.” The first fellowships were awarded for the 2011-12 academic year.

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