The Digital Edge Award for Best , sponsored by the NAA's New Media Federation, was presented Saturday during the annual Connections '97 conference in San Francisco.Special

AugustaGolf.Com wins national award

Web posted July 21, 1997

 AugustaGolf.Com

From Staff Reports

AugustaGolf.Com, the Masters Web site produced by The Augusta Chronicle and the online services division of Morris Communications Corp., has been named the best interactive site in the country by the Newspaper Association of America.

The site won the prestigious Digital Edge Award for Best Interactive Feature for 1997 Masters tournament coverage on the Internet.

The award, sponsored by the NAA's New Media Federation, was presented Saturday during the annual Connections '97 conference in San Francisco. It was one of only 15 awarded nationally. The Chronicle, Morris Communications Corp. and Sports Illustrated collaborated to cover the Masters tournament on the Internet.

``Edgies'' recognize creativity and risk-taking in on-line newspapers as viable and effective businesses. Winners were judged on creativity, innovation and execution.

``In the contest for bending technology to editorial will, augustagolf's Masters tournament site was the unanimous choice,'' the contest's judges said. ``There were no fewer than three forms of chat, glittering VR panoramas, a real-time Java leaderboard, constantly updated stats and golf-related freeware and shareware. Visitors could congratulate Tiger, hear Fuzzy Zoeller's apology, buy a souvenir, and, in short, practically smell the azaleas.''

Other winners included the Chicago Tribune, for best online newspaper site; The New York Times Electronic Media Co., for online advertising; and the Dallas Morning News, award of excellence.

``Recognition by peers is what we all strive for, but being named the best among all newspaper sites in the country is a rare honor for a newspaper our size,'' said Julian Miller, general manager of The Chronicle.

``We knew we were on the cutting edge in this new medium and have constantly billed ourselves as such. This shows we are world leaders in providing newspaper coverage on-line.''

The New Media Federation, comprised of more than 900 newspaper professionals at NAA member newspapers., was established in 1996 to provide leadership in helping newspapers understand and take advantage of opportunities provided by new electronic media. This is the second year the federation has presented Edgie awards.

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing more than 1,600 newspapers in the United States and Canada.