Le Temps wins the "Online Journalism Award 2017" in Washington

Le Temps is the only non-American medium to win first prize in the "Excellence in Online Journalism" category in the "Medium-sized Media" category. The other finalists in the race for the prize were ProPublica and San Antonio Express-News.

"I am delighted that we have succeeded in beating major international titles. This award shows that we are on the right track with our digital strategy," says Gaël Hurlimann, Editor-in-Chief Digital Le Temps.

Last year, Le Temps was already among the finalists for the prestigious "Online Journalism Award" (ONA). This year, Le Temps impressed in several respects. Firstly, with high-quality journalistic online contributions that are characterized by a combination of content and multimedia elements such as videos, photos, audio, animations and infographics. A comprehensive report on heavy fuel oil, which was presented as a large multimedia format, was already awarded the prize for best digital journalism project at the "Swiss Press Awards 2017" in April.

Secondly, Le Temps developed "Zombie", a tool that makes it possible to recirculate previously published content at the ideal time and thus make it accessible to new readers. Project manager Jean Abbiateci explains: "The tool uses predefined criteria to measure the relevance of all published posts and user engagement on social media. Based on this data, 'Zombie' provides the editorial team with article suggestions that offer in-depth background information on current topics. The suggested content can then be republished, either on the Letemps.ch website or on social media."

The jury was also impressed by the interaction between Le Temps and its readers. The editorial team has launched various formats for a direct exchange via social media, including monthly Facebook Live events with journalists who have just returned from a report (e.g. with a special correspondent who has just been to Iraq), the video series "Booktube", in which the editorial team and users discuss their favorite books, as well as video training sessions in which readers learn how to recognize fake news, for example.

The "Online Journalism Awards" are presented annually by the American "Online News Association", the world's largest association for online journalism.