Introducing the first-ever LION Publishers Local Journalism Awards

Which site will win LION Publisher of the Year?

Join us in Nashville to find out, when we unveil our judges’ choice for this capstone category of LION Publishers’ very first awards program, now accepting nominations from LION members.

We’ll be handing out awards on October 25th in Nashville, during the second night of our conference. Other categories for these awards include:

• Business Idea of the Year
• Technology Innovation of the Year (presented by Facebook)
• Investigative Report of the Year
• Solutions Journalism Project of the Year (presented by the Solutions Journalism Network)
• Best Breaking News Coverage
• Best Coverage of Underserved Communities
• Best Visual Journalism Project
• The LION Service Award (for vendors only)

So you can be a part of the first awards program recognizing the work of local independent online news organizations, who produce impactful work every day in communities all over the U.S.

Plus, with support from the Solutions Journalism Network, the winner of the Solutions Journalism Project of the Year will receive a one-time $2,000 grant to create another solutions journalism project in the coming year.

LION Award Judges include:

• Amara Aguilar, USC Annenberg
• Dylan Byers, NBC
• Julia Chan, Mother Jones
• Dana Coester, WVU
• Courtney Lowery Cowgill, University of Montana
• Ken Doctor, Newsonomics
• Jane Elizabeth, Raleigh News & Observer
• Dawn Garcia, JSK Fellows
• Kristen Hare, Poynter
• Kate Lesniak, ThinkShout
• Doug Mitchell, NPR
• Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab
• Eve Pearlman, Spaceship Media
• Jessica Pucci, Arizona State
• Jim Rutenberg, New York Times
• Christine Schmidt, Nieman Lab
• Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed
• Reuben Stern, RJI / Missouri
• Yumi Wilson, San Francisco State

Learn more and apply for an award now!

The fine print: The LION Awards are open to people who are LION Publishers members in good standing, helping run local independent online news publications. Submissions are also open to employees or freelancers who work for publications run by LION Publishers members. Vendors who have helped serve LION member publications may apply for the LION Service Award. If you are interested in joining LION Publishers, go to our Membership Application page.

Categories: Not all LION Publishers have organizations of the same size, so several awards are broken down into different size categories. We’re asking for analytics screenshots to show your pageviews for April 2019 with each entry.

Small publication: 150,000 pageviews per month or less.

Medium publication: 150,001 pageviews to 500,000 pageviews per month.

Large publication: More than 500,000 pageviews per month.

Time frame: The LION Awards are open to editorial work, business initiatives and technological advancements made between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019.

What’s it cost? Entry fees are $25 for LION Member award categories, and $50 for the Vendor Service Award category, plus transaction fees. Payment should be made by credit card via the Submittable platform.

What’s my deadline? Applications must be received by August 12, 2019 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

Learn more and apply now!

If you have any questions about the Awards, please contact Mark Glaser at [email protected]