1st Place – www.savannahnow.com, Savannah Morning News, Savannah, Ga.

Judges said:

• Very clean, well organized, nice.
• Good list of some stories with a simple “More…” link underneath.
• Interesting “Most Popular” feature, as were the thumbnails on featured stories.
• Nice use of video editor’s pick on front page. 
• Great, less obtrusive pop-up menus. 
• The search options are a plus on this Web site, with options for “All Savannah,” stories or even images. Also, division by date or type of story. Time stamp on stories very clear. 
• Throughout the site, nicely organized with simple staff listings, including photo, name, title, e-mail and phone number for everyone from executive editor to reporters, making it simple for readers to contact them.  Very interesting profile also for each staff member, including a Twitter connection.
• “DO” menu offers listings of a variety of things to do in town. While judges said this has become quite common in many papers online, it was still nice to see the dedication of this publication to it. 
• Interesting “SHARE” menu, inviting even more interaction from readers.
• Easy to scan front page – sections are displayed well. News is timely, easy to navigate to stories. Good consistent use of widgets to bookmark, share and get RSS feed.

To take the site to the next level, judges sugggested:

• Java browser could be introduced with the Featured Stories section for easy browsing and point of entry into stories. Full width of page should be utilized after Featured Stories to limit the amount of scrolling (currently left-hand-side is blank). Move video feature to more prominent display area – above advertising on top-left-hand side, for example.
• Consider introducing a Java slideshow to introduce Most Popular stories rather than a static text list. This is a prominent space and could be more interactive.
• Be more consistent with image size and image use as navigational elements – consider cropping images for impact and legibility – don’t go under 100 pixels for a thumbnail. Use more images as navigational elements.

2nd Place – www.gainesvilletimes, The Times, Gainesville, Ga.

Judges said:

• They liked the site's user-friendly search tool.
• They also cited its clean, smart and consistent design with a nice color palette. 
• Good to see the "contact us" is at the top of the page.
• The page is newsy: The photos are journalistic. The headlines are written well. 

To take the site to the next level, judges sugggested:

• Figure out a way to refer to/from the "top stories" to the four stories in the photo carousel. This would be more viewer friendly.

3rd Place – www.victoriaadvocate, Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas

Judges said:

• Very clean, very nice page – a little too much use of soft blue, though… 
• Nice header on the page and easy to find menus.
• Stories on front page do a good job of including section, number of comments, time since it was posted.
• Nice presence on the main page of “Your Photos” and “Latest Videos” sections.  
• Nice staff page, including photo, contact info, and easy link to material produced and even Twitter when available. 
• The search results on this site were not as complete as others, but including photos when available – an interesting approach. Although we were not able to see it, the concept of broadcasting the morning news planning meeting on the site with live chat is great!  It makes readers/viewers feel like even more a part of the newspaper.

1st Place – www.timesfreepress.com, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Judges said:

• Awesome! The newspaper's logotype is there. The newspaper's Page One is there at the top of the page also.  And get this:  There are color editorial cartoons prominently displayed. What reader could resist? What's best about the structure?  There are no confusing "top news, latest news, latest top news headlines" labels to confuse readers. Just the news.
• Properly organize the information on the main page and carry this to the inside pages of the site, all while not losing its own identity – that’s the lesson taught by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.  With a clear and simple division on the main page, with a very online-focused “Just Posted” section, for example, the paper makes reading news on its Web site a pleasant and easy process. Finding the news and following the page are simple tasks – as it should be. 
• Rather than abusing icons, the paper simply lists the availability of “Photos” in a story, for example – simple, yet useful.  No gimmicks, just well-organized information.  Photos, videos and slideshows also are highlighted on the page, without overtaking it. 
• The search tool is efficient, although quite simple. 
• What’s perhaps most unique about this publication compared to most other entries in this contest: at no point does the paper seem to lose its identity and its relationship to the original print version.  Aside from making the logo clearly visible, the Web site presents right on the top of the main page an option for download of the full print version (with a subscription, which is absolutely understandable). 
• The site offers social networking tools (Twitter and Facebook); these options, however, seem to be hidden inside the site, instead of highlighted, as they should be.  The site does provide a good list of contacts for readers to e-mail or call writers, editors and executives of the paper – something that many larger newspapers seem to forget to do, or plain avoid online.  Readers can also easily find the writer’s e-mail and contact info from articles they wrote, along with a lot more information about it with a simple click or two.
• This site offers an easy to scan home page – with good use of graphics and images as navigational elements. Good use of multimedia on home page. Image size on home page is okay – just need to crop the image for impact without losing context. Good work on multimedia inside. Inside sections need to have a graphic or photo navigational element for each story link.

2nd Place – www.knoxnews.com, Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville, Tenn.

Judges said this site has lots of personality and a good local feel. They said the page offered easy navigation.  And, they like the white-on-black reverse type on the top stories' headlines and one-sentence ledes.

One judge suggested:  "Get an image of the print Page One on there and use your newspaper's brand – its logotype – instead of the Helvetica knoxnews.com."

However, another judge had a differing view: "While some may argue the need for an image of the print edition, the print and Web audiences are very different. Just make sure you include the name of the paper on the home page, preferably with the logo. But I don’t think most Web readers care what your print product looks like."

3rd Place – www.tennessean.com, The Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.

Judges said:

• Neat, clean and good use of colors. Lots of local news that was interesting and fun, not just typical arrests and bad news. A site I will go back to.
• A nice site that’s very well organized.  Tightly-cropped pictures adorn the main page without crowding it; photo gallery and video notices and teasers, all elements work nicely together, without overtaking the page.
• Stories contain a note of whether they contain photos, videos or comments, and many contain a time stamp.
• Menus are easy to understand and navigate, although the concept of having some left aligned, some centered and others right aligned makes it a bit confusing.

To take the site to the next level, judges suggested:

• Expand on information available through search results. Instead of just giving the story title, brief intro and date published, provide further information.
• In the “Contact Us” section (both for print and online staff), include e-mail addresses for staff writers.

Judges said:

• The Breaking News section effectively not only summarizes the latest stories on the site, but also easily displays the time it was published. There also is the presence of photo and comments. 
• The main page highlights the photo gallery, as well as the publication’s use of Twitter, showing the paper’s dedication to online tools. 
• Site includes video and photo menus.
• The newspaper deserves special recognition for its effort to join online and offline worlds. 

To take the site to the next level, judges suggested:

• Search tool is effective, but consider providing time stamp and other details on search results.
• Make some additions to contact page: specifically, list staff members by name.

Honorable Mention – www.citizen-times, Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville, N.C.

Judges said there's no question that this is the site of the Asheville newspaper: 

• An image of Page One of the print edition is there (although judges suggested that it should be raised higher on the Web page).
• A version of the paper's logotype is the site's nameplate.  There aren't 30 different sections vying for a reader's attention on this page.

Honorable Mention – www.knoxville.com, Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville, Tenn.

Judges commended Knoxville's entertainment and music site for being way different and fun. Splashy. A relief from the cookie cutter look of most newspaper Web pages.