APME Awards: Newspapers share Online Convergence Award

Editor & Publisher reports that the Associated Press Managing Editors awarded both The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Providence (R.I.) Journal its Online Convergence Award in the division for large newspapers. The award honors large, midsize and small newspapers for stories that demonstrated excellence in two platforms: print and online journalism.

The AJC award was for coverage of the March 11 courthouse shootings. Judges were impressed with the Web site's multimedia coverage and "'the immediacy of online reporting without letting up on the journalism.'"

The Projo award was for a seven-part series about a man's efforts to prevent overdevelopment on an island. The Web series, "Saving Block Island: How Rob Lewis led the way," featured multimedia narratives.

Judges were impressed with the "'complete, while completely different, experience'" offered by the print and online versions of the story. "'The print version was as impressive in its layout as in its reporting, and the online site design and Web-oriented elements were a perfect match with the topic,'" judges said.

There were 43 entries, the highest number in the history of the four-year competition. The awards will be presented at the APME conference in late October.