FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MousePlanet's breaking-news coverage of Disneyland fatality selected as finalist in 2004 Online Journalism Award

Anaheim, California (MousePlanet) October 7, 2004 - MousePlanet.com, an unofficial Disney news site, was recognized by the Online News Association today for its extraordinary breaking-news coverage of last year's fatal accident at Disneyland.

When Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad experienced a catastrophic and fatal derailment last Sept. 5, MousePlanet provided up-to-the-minute coverage as the aftermath unfolded. The Online News Association and the USC Annenberg School for Communication have recognized this coverage by selecting it as a finalist in the "Breaking News: Small Sites" category in its the fifth annual Online Journalism Awards (OJAs) contest, which honors excellence in digital journalism. Judging was conducted by a team of distinguished journalists during a two-day event on the USC campus on Oct. 1-2.

"We're extremely pleased and honored that the Online News Association has recognized our work," said MousePlanet CEO Alexander Stroup. "You hope that such a terrible accident would never occur at the Happiest Place on Earth, but we felt compelled to provide focused coverage for our readers even after the mainstream TV news and newspaper crews left for the day."

The winners will be announced at the OJA Awards Banquet during the fifth national conference of the Online News Association, which will be held Nov. 12-13 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles.

For additional information about MousePlanet, contact: Alexander Stroup or Anthony Phoenix at 714-776-7447.

The original breaking-news coverage about the accident is available at http://www.mouseplanet.com/btmrr_accident/030905btmrr.htm, and the official announcement from the Online News Association is available at http://journalist.org/news/archives/000072.php.

MousePlanet.com is an Internet magazine publishing daily content about the Walt Disney Company and its theme parks. Its Web site includes features, news, reviews and editorials, as well as travel-planning guides, reader-submitted trip reports and hotel and restaurant reviews, as well as discussion forums where members can interact in an online community.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Anthony Phoenix
MousePlanet, Inc.
714-776-7447

http://www.mouseplanet.com

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This is awesome! Congratulations you guys! :D

Yeah top effort to all the crew for this honour. Well done.

The articles and guides in MP are always of a very high standard and I have really enjoyed reading them over the years so ina way I feelt his nomination can be shared by all those who have written articles over the years. As a body of work MP is a wonderful resource and one I keep coming back to day in day out.
(Even some of the forums could be included in this light. Some of the posts regarding the Hurricane season this year were brillient.)

Well done all!

The awards were handed out last night, alas, MousePlanet didn't win, though just becoming a Finalist is a great honor....

A complete list of award winners can be found at the link below...

http://journalist.org/2004conference/archives/000087.php

though just becoming a Finalist is a great honor....I've always thought people were just being polite when they said that about an award they didn't win, but I think I understand now.

It was an honor to be named a finalist. It's something that I am very proud of, no matter the ultimate recipient of the award. In fact, I had forgotten that the awards were this weekend, being just so content that we were recognized for our coverage.

AVP

Ok, that was just sooo cool to see "us" mentioned in the story, with two links, in the same area as the NY Times, the Washington Post, an NBC affiliate, and two newspapers!

Very well done, fellow staff members who did the work! :) You rock! Thanks for posting the link, Darkbeer!

Adrienne

No mention of the infamous line-pusher story? I thought that was a good one, too.

Seriously, though, that (BTMRR accident) was one extremely important tragedy that all of us here (if I can be so bold to speak for all) are grateful for your reporting so well on. You know how important something like this is to us, and you don't go all anti-Disney as some major newspaper would. We trust that you will tell us everything you know when you know it. Thank you very much.

Next year, we pack the jury! A full measure of love and congratulations to the Mouse Planet staff. Da big leagues, people.

-Helen/3894