The award was presented by Bryan Monroe, chairman of the judging panel and vice-president of news at Knight Ridder, on 15 September at the National Press Club in Washington DC.
The awards were sponsored by J-Lab, the institute for interactive journalism at the University of Maryland.
"MSNBC.com won because it was stunningly presented with a lot of multimedia tools," Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, told dotJournalism.
"It really moves the edge on new digital storytelling techniques, providing a lot of entry points and venues for users such as quizzes, games and interviews."
The Chicago Tribune received top honours for the CD ROM 'When Evil Struck America', telling the story of the twin towers disaster.
Honorable mention was given to Village.com, which provides regional news for communities in Maine, and to the San Francisco Chronicle for its community site providing a forum of news and opinion for local residents.
Judges included Jody Brannon, executive news producer at USAToday.com and Mark Hinojosa, associate managing editor of electronic news at the Chicago Tribune.
This is the first year that the awards are being promoted as awards for innovation in journalism. Originally the Batten Awards for excellence in civic journalism, they were established in memory of the late Jim Batten, former chairman and chief executive of news publisher Knight Ridder.
Awards are designed to reward the best interactive storytelling on the web, promoting sites that encourage users to explore and engage with key issues.
The deadline for entries to next year's awards is 11 June 2004.
See also:
http://www.j-lab.org
http://www.pewcenter.org/batten/index.html
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