Honolulu Civil Beat was honored Saturday with the top award for general excellence in the small newsroom category by the Online News Association.

The awards were announced at the group’s annual journalism conference in Philadelphia.

Civl Beat’s winning entry beat out two national organizations, the Center for Public Integrity and The Markup, which were named as finalists. The Washington Post won the large newsroom category, The Marshall Project won for medium newsrooms and The Pudding won for micro newsrooms.

Civil Beat reporter Thomas Heaton’s series on World War II unexploded munitions that are still killing people in the Solomon Islands was a finalist in the Explanatory Reporting category.

Honolulu Civil Beat, who had several journalists who couldn't attend awards because of fire coverage:

“For a hell of a team, this is going to make our work all the more special. Thank you so much @ONA.”#OJA23 pic.twitter.com/W6jRJXuI7m

— Online News Association (@ONA) August 27, 2023

Civil Beat also won the general excellence award in 2019.

The Online News Association is the world’s largest digital journalism association. Its membership includes journalists, technologists, executives, students, educators and other digital media professionals, according to the ONA website.

Its annual conference routinely attracts more than 1,000 particpants who spend three days in workshops and training sessions aimed at increasing excellence in the digital news space. The awards competition includes entries from the world’s biggest news operations.