Congratulations! An awesome achievement, and well deserved. Keep it up.

Wonderful news, though hardly a surprise. Congratulations to Jonathan, Courtney, Hal and everyone at New West.

Congratulations! You guys completely deserve it.

Very glad to hear folks are noticing New West and its excellent journalism. Now more than ever, there's room and need for truthful reporting. Please continue!

hey congrats, jonathan & staff. keep up the excellent work.

I am frankly shocked. I agree that the mission and promise of the publication is noteworthy and that awards could be in the future. There are certainly writing bright spots such as that specific series. But I find the typical brief stories pretty analogous to the much criticized USA today in depth and often with a pretty casual, perhaps too limited point of view. And often sloppy text. But I guess our perceptives are different. Still, congratulations and keep improving both the scope and depth/quality.

correction of typo (in the spirit of a better effort on that): perspective

Well-deserved recognition, both for the probing and perceptive series and for New West. Keep up the good work!

I'm hardly shocked at these acolades, but I am pleasantly surprised at and pleased by this early recognition for the sustained high quality of your bleeding-edge journalistic work-in-progress. KUDOS! [FULL DISCLOSURE: Parent of a business-side staffer at NewWest.org]

I have since learned that there are 5 winners per category. A work in progress being recognized in that light is not as surprising.

11 of the 15 general honors went to websites of large well-financed organizations from America's biggest cities (too many)? Perhaps some effort (but not enough?) was made to show regional inclusiveness.

Perhaps the limelight will inspire more business support, readers, even higher aspirations.

scratch that count. corrected: 9 of 14 well financed / big city. how do cbs chicago, new york newsday, pbs frontline count as "medium"? in web presence? they are large organizations to me.

I don't know what source you refer to. The Online News Association shows multiple finalists, but NewWest.org shared no awards: http://journalist.org/2005conference/archives/000373.php

OK!! OK!: NewWest.ORG

NewWest.NET - I'll get it right - DUH!

Comeback "surprised"!

For the record there are not 5 winners per category. The General Excellence award had three categories, for large, medium and small sites. The Enterprise Journalism award had two categories, one for large and one for small.

And, NewWest.net was THE winner of each small site award!: Qv, http://journalist.org/2005conference/archives/000373.php

I apologize, the article I saw was the list of finalists not winners. My big mistake. Proves that the first site you go to after a web search is not enough and you have to read every word carefully. I slipped and I am sorry for that misreporting. I stand by the other comments but I'll shut up for awhile and move slower in the future.

in my meager defense the page was titled "awards"
and awards and winners were used several times in the article and made me think it was written after the event not before.

The page I saw was also from the The Online News Association but an earlier date. Because it was the host organization I thought I was safe but I didnt check the date and missed the clarification of exactly what stage the awards where at.

actually the byline date was in fact oct 29 and may have misled me as well, but it was just a re-cap of past announcements to set the stage for the award.

some of the statements:

"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 Sept. 23-24."

"The ONA and USC Annenberg are very pleased with the outcome of the judging,"

in fact every paragraph uses past tense

but it was only the judging that was past tense not the award. oops on me as a reader.

finalist is usually a sign that the process is still ongoing but all the awards, winners, past tense made me miss that. sometimes finalist is a winner as in national merit scholar finalist.

Apologetic: Have you had any thoughts in the last 30 seconds or so that you want to pass on about this? About anything? We readers wouldn't want to miss any of them.

To reiterate comments 1-5, CONGRATULATIONS Courtney, Jonathon and everyone in the offices of New West who nurtured this site from idea to code to award-winning journalism.

I'm glad to see that people notice when journalists do good work, even when it's in small western towns. Congrats to the New West crew ...

What I like best about NewWest is that it reflects what truly has become a diverse Rocky Mountain West. Yes, there are a lot of things about the New West that I don't care for, but that doesn't mean I can ignore them. More than any other publication, New West keeps me on track about what the New West is about and what it's becoming. So congratulations for winning the awards and keep it up.

To surprised,
perhaps if you paid more attention to what you are read you might like New West better.

Great news! Well done. I just finished Hal's article. Wow!

I done went to school and I aint stupid either. Just cant rite fast. Oh, and surprised, who do you work for?

Hey Jonanthan, Courtney, Hal, and the rest of you bloggers--CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Looks like for once excellence has been rewarded. Keep up the fine work.
Annick

I was trying to back off and not say this, but if you think you can laugh off my comments because I goofed in thinking finalists = winners, I would be more than willing to file a multipage summary of my observations in one month of reading New West. I have probably read at least 60% of the site's entire accessible content and have made 50 comments (not using "surprised"), constructive to give the article more depth, to correct an error, to offer a balancing view or caution, or even on about a dozen occassions to offer praise. If Jonathan or Courtney want that they can also just re-read all the comments made in the last month especially but I would encourage a continual review of all comments, from all readers, for the site's entire history because my perspective is only one of many and all discern a fair consideration. I assume that is being done. If so, I don't need to throw it in your face any further. I was honestly expressing, a different, perhaps unwelcome at this moment for understandable reasons, viewpoint. I was under the impression that was part of what a bloggish publication wants and is supposed to allow, even encourage. I say this and note that one of the very first articles I read here at New West and commented on involved what I thought was a smug, excessively critical and somewhat unfair dissection of a non-New West writers article.
I thought a publication that allows that should also see less than impressed reactions to some of their own writing. I also have participated and offer these criticism because I was delighted when I discovered this publication but a little disappointed in some ways after spending more time with it. But I intend to continue to read it. Whether I continue to comment, I will play be ear.

correction of typos so you won't waste your time worry with that:

discern should be deserve
be in last sentence should be by

P.S. Karen: You dont have to like my comments or think kindly towards me. I know my comments appear abrasive. Perhaps I could have said them differently. I made a choice because after past participation it wasnt clear to me that the comments were being taken that seriously. I dont have a right for them to be, but I hoped for a little more. And I continued them in this specific thread because I was somewhat concerned that the award would be validation that enough was being done in every respect and no reflect or improvement was needed. I think that would be adangerous thing for any publication.

But Karen, to basically speculate insinuate or joke that a person is stupid because of a mistake or typos is childish and in this case wrong. Two degrees from among the highest ranked universities in the country and working on a third.

Since Scot previously asked "Have you had any thoughts in the last 30 seconds or so that you want to pass on about this?"

The answer is yes.

I quickly learned that Karen writes for New West and is married to Jonathan. I already knew Scot and several other critical commeters about what I said or the way i said it also work for New West. I understand your right to be pissed and throw it back at me. Karen maybe especially since Jonathan clearly gives this enterprise a lot of effort and sacrifice, but so does everyone else.

But Karen in a March 31 article here http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/meet_new_wests_wife_mother_and_the_person_who_keeps_this_ship_sailing/

you say among other things: "I’m not a writer, I’m dyslexic", and "It’s true I am creative, easily distracted, and full of opinions (even on subjects of which I know nothing.)"
You arent the only one, so perhaps you can understand if I do some of the same things.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and wishes for the future of New West.

We are delighted with the awards and even more so to see such an outpouring of support from our readers. Many congrats are due to our stellar staff, all of our many contributors and even our commenters (including "surprised," who as he or she says, has indeed offered much feedback in this process.)

The open door for diversity of voices, opinions and perspectives is what makes New West such a vibrant and rich place to be.

So again, thank you!

Your Managing Editor

Hey Surprised. I think Karen was mocking herself for her previous post.
ps. I hope you and Karen keep posting.

second tead, I was indeed mocking myself and I offer my sincere apologies to Surprised. We welcome all comments on this our site.

Ok. We all make mistakes. Learn'd frum um to. Lets move on.

Let's all start again back here:
http://journalist.org/2005conference/archives/000373.php

Surprised: Scot does not work for New West. His wife does, however. We appreciate everyone's best wishes and comments. As always, constructive criticism is always welcome.

I should have said affiliated and one time writer. Another imprecision. Thanks for the recent specific clarifications and reaffirmation of listening (but of course filtering as we all do and have the right to).

But it is time to set this aside. I should have waited two weeks.

You should celebrate. So continue with that. Look forward to a good 2006.

Congratulations on your award. Seems like the mainstream media can learn some lessons from your success.

Congrats, New West. I hope to see more work from Hal. He has the touch! (Not related to anyone on the staff, honest.)