The Times leads the way with 15 nominations while The Sunday Times has eight and The Guardian seven, with BBC, Press Gazette, Thomson Reuters and Huffington Post close behind.
While the shortlist features global names such as Yahoo, Washington Post and the New York Times, the awards will also recognise regional and niche sites with the likes of the Manchester Evening News, Wales Online, Bristol 24/7, Elle UK, Nursing Times and Company Magazine competing for awards.
Entries were judged by a 20 strong international panel including Nick Blunden, Global Managing Director and Publisher at The Economist online; Nick Wrenn, VP at CNN International Digital Service; Noel Young, Owner of ReportBoston.com; Bill Hagerty Editor of British Journalism Review; Maria Eftimiades, the former New York Bureau Chief at People magazine; Maggie Hall, former editor/writer for Daily Mirror, Today, the Sunday Mail and in the US and the Enquirer; Paul Linford, Publisher and Editor of HoldtheFrontPage and David Mill, former editor Online Editor of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, to name a few.
The Online Media Awards, now in their second year, are organised by The Drum and supported by Press Association, Society of Editors, NUJ and Hold the Front Page.
Gordon Young, editor of The Drum, said: "This year's s truly reflect the rapid development and investment in the online side of the newspaper publishing business. They provide strong evidence that publishers are really beginning to understand the online dynamic."
“The standard and variety of entries has been extremely high and this has ensured a high octane shortlist. Our judges really have had their work cut out in terms of deciding who will pick up the prestigious awards in June.”
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday 21 June.
The Online Media Awards 2012 Shortlist
Best Brand Development
Emap For Student Nursing Times
The Times
Best Campaigning / Investigative Journalism
Exaro News
International Business Times UK
Press Gazette
The Sunday Times
The Times
Best Commentary/Blogging
Channel 4 News
For FactCheck
The Huffington Post UK
New Statesman
Reuters Breakingviews
Trinity Mirror Regionals For Dale Street Associates
The Times
Best Commercial Innovation
Mindful Money
Newsquest South west London For School Correspondents
The Times
Best Designed site
Red Online
The Sunday Times
Thomson Reuters Foundation For AlertNet - The World's Humanitarian News Site
The Times For The Times iPad app
Trinity Mirror Regionals For WalesOnline
Best Local/Regional News Site
belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Bristol24-7
thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/
lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
Leedsstudent.org
thelincolnite.co.uk
liverpoolecho.co.uk
Manchester Evening News
Northcliffe Digital for www.thisiscornwall.co.uk
southwalesargus.co.uk
walesonline.co.uk
Best National News Site
The Guardian
The Sunday Times
The Times
Best Site for news-led Journalism
BBC News website
Los Angeles Times
The Guardian
Mail Online
New York Times
Sky News
The Sun
The Sunday Times
Telegraph
The Times
Wall St Journal
Washington Post
Best Specialist Site for Journalism
theartsdesk.com
Bloomberg
The Economist
Financial Times
Guardian Datastore
International Network of Street Papers
Nature News and comment
Press Gazette
Wired
Reuters Breakingviews
Red Online
Best Technical Innovation
The Guardian For iPad edition
Financial Times For FT web app
Newsquest South west London For Croydon Guardian e-Xtra
The Times For The Times Word Nerd
Best Twitter feed
BBC News For @BBCBreaking
Comic Relief For @sportrelief
The Guardian For Paul Lewis @paullewis
Nature Publishing Group For @NatureNews
Yahoo! For @YahooOmgUK
The Times For @timesfashion
The Sunday Times For @TheSTStyle
Best Use of Crowd Sourcing or Citizen Journalism
BBC News website For BBC UGC hub for Syria protests
Blottr For the people powered news service
The Guardian For Guardian coverage of the England riots
Mindful Money
The Times For The Times' Cities Fit for Cycling
Best use of Photography
The Times
The Sunday Times
Best Use of Social Media
AOL Huffington Post Media Group
Company Magazine
The Guardian
Press Gazette
Metro
South Wales Argus
The Times
Best Video Journalism
BBC News
IOP Publishing For Physics World
Thomson Reuters Foundation
The Times
The Sunday Times
Digital Writer of the Year
Andrew Pugh, Press Gazette
Murad Ahmed, The Times
Online Editor of the Year
Ananyo Bhattacharya, Chief Online Editor, Nature News & Comment
Carla Buzasi, Editor-in-chief, AOL Huffington Post Media Group
Carrie Tyler, Editor, ELLEuk.com
Dominic Ponsford, Editor, Press Gazette
Gordon Thomson, Editor, The Sunday Times
Jon Bernstein, Deputy Editor, New Statesman
Tom Whitwell, Online Editor, The Times
Steve Herrmann, Editor, BBC News website
