And the award goes to…

In this world of online journalism, a relatively new crop of awards was added to the standards—Pulitzer and Emmy—to honor those who those who comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The name? Well, quite naturally, the Online Journalism Awards.

Online heavy weights, such as the WashingtonPost.com and CNN.com, are among the 2008 winners. There is also new area of distinction, if you will. For the first time, the organization has acknowledged the work of non-English language sites.

The Online News Association was founded in 1999. A year later, the organization launched its awards program to “honor excellence in Internet journalism,” their Web site said. The awards are “open to Web sites around the world,” it continued.

But it took eight years for the worldwide organization to honor Web sites not in English. This, despite the Internet’s ability to make someplace across the globe seem like across the street.

The reason, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, could be that “the online world mirrors the offline world.

“People bring to the Internet the activities, interests, and behaviors that preoccupied them before the Web existed,” the organization said.

Still, typing w-w-w-dot into the browser can take people to places they’ve only dreamed of visiting. So let’s click on ELPAIS.com and Soitu.es—this year’s inaugural award winners—and jet to Spain.