The Online Journalism Awards are a comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in English-language Web journalism. They are administered by the Online News Association and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

The Online Journalism Awards were launched in May 2000. The contest honors excellence in Internet journalism and is open to all English-language Web sites around the world. The judges will review entries in the following categories this year: General excellence in online journalism; breaking news; specialty journalism; enterprise journalism; service journalism; online commentary; creative use of the medium; student journalism; student Web site.

In most cases, judges name four finalists, but in some categories name fewer.

The ONA has eliminated the “Independent” and “Affiliated” distinctions within the contest categories. In prior years, awards were given in several categories to sites that produced content independently of any other media organization and to those with affiliations to other media organizations. Under the new rules, sites will be categorized by size (more than / fewer than 500,000 unique visitors/month), but there will be no distinction made by affiliate relationship.