Some of the strongest reporting produced by nonprofit news outlets in 2025 exposed unseen dangers.
Water flowing from lead-laden pipes in Chicago-area neighborhoods. Content about sexual and reproductive health removed from social media platforms. Families ripped apart by immigration raids.
Finalists for the sixth annual Nonprofit News Awards, or INNYs, focused on those issues through compelling newswriting, poignant photos, thoughtful community engagement and other efforts.
INN will announce award winners during a ceremony in Pittsburgh on June 16.
Rural California communities forced to endure unexpected electrical power cuts are another example of problems INNYs finalists revealed. In an investigation titled “Lights Out,” Type Investigations and High Country News collaborated to shed light on how Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the state’s largest utility, tries to prevent wildfires by using a method that disproportionately disrupts power to rural communities. The practice forces residents — many already living on lower incomes — to bear additional costs for needs including backup generators and replacing spoiled food. It also forces communities to employ scarce resources to direct traffic or set up community cooling centers.
“This is illuminating (no pun intended) and extremely well done,” a judge wrote.
The project is a finalist for the Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism, Large division, along with entries from The Hechinger Report, Honolulu Civil Beat, The Narwhal & the Winnipeg Free Press and The Connecticut Mirror.
The INNYs honor qualities and achievements that reflect the values of nonprofit news, such as outstanding leadership, community service, collaboration and innovation. Many of the entries go beyond informing readers about important issues and events in their communities by fostering conversation and action.
Fuller, a finalist for the Breaking Barriers Award in the Medium division, “found a way to beat the algorithms and undercut censorship of information about sexual health issues, often in places that need it the most,” a judge wrote.
“The originality of this effort to break through social media filtering makes it worthy of a Breaking Barriers award.”
For “Hidden In Plain Sight,” a contender for the Insight Award for Visual Journalism in the Medium division, the New Bedford Light took a creative risk. Photos of residents of a Guatemalan community obscure most of the subjects’ faces. One woman’s back is turned to the camera as she washes dishes. Another woman holds her cat, Jumpito, in front of her face. Other photos show elements of residents’ lives: food, textiles, and splintered wood strewn around doors that federal agents broke through.
The subjects appear to be hiding their identity and pain while “amplifying their displacement,” a judge wrote. The photographs reflect breaking news and a “documentary exploration” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the community, they continued.
“The photos have humanity and a sense of immediacy, as if you are living the horror.”
“Chicago’s Lead Crisis,” an investigative collaboration of Grist, Inside Climate News and public radio station WBEZ, is another example of collaboration. The news organizations exposed the proliferation of lead-laden water service lines in Chicago — dangers about which few residents had been notified. The reporting didn’t stop there.
The newsrooms’ coverage included searchable maps of the city’s water service lines. The stories noted the effects or symptoms of lead poisoning and shared information about how residents could get resources to test for lead in water and receive water filters.
“Wow. This is incredible reporting and just plain inspiring to see these journalists coming together to produce this work,” a judge wrote about the coverage. “The opportunities for community engagement through the tools that were built here? Incredible.
“Heroic work here.”
A record number of INN member newsrooms, 176, participated in the INNYs this year, submitting 563 entries.
Finalists in the journalism categories
Best Investigative Journalism Award
Honors a single story or series that uncovered significant and impactful news based on the reporters’ own investigation and which advances and serves the public interest.
Micro Division
The Xylom, ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’: How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town, Alex Ip
Voices of Monterey Bay, Covert Immigration Enforcement at Fort Hunter Liggett, George B. Sánchez-Tello
Small Division
The Margin, Licensed to Contaminate and In Toxic Detention, Rico Moore, Bryce Cracknell, Chona Kasinger
Jacksonville Today, The Show Must Go On, Megan Mallicoat
Arizona Luminaria, A Long Way Home, John Washington, Erik López (La Silla Rota), Yana Kunichoff, Carolina Cuellar, Rafael Carranza
Shasta Scout, Using Suspects’ Faces, RPD Weaves Compellingly Pro-Police Narratives. It’s a Practice that’s Known to Cause Harm, Nevin Kallepalli
Suncoast Searchlight & Bradenton Herald, Stripmall Casinos, Josh Salman, Derek Gilliam, Michael Moore Jr.
Medium Division
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, No School, No Fresh Air and Isolated: Memphis Youth Held in Solitary Confinement, Rebecca Cadenhead, Charity Scott, Andrea Morales, Kevin Wurm
The Imprint, State-Sponsored Abandonment, Sara Tiano
Injustice Watch, Forensic Failures, Maya Dukmasova
Large Division
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Investigative Journalism Bureau at the University of Toronto, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland and partners across Europe, Bad Practice, Eiliv Frich Flydal (VG), George Greenwood (The Times), Kira Zalan (OCCRP)
Mongabay, Shark is on the Menu for Millions of People, but Few Know What They’re Eating, Philip Jacobson, Karla Mendes, Fernanda Wenzel, Kuang Keng Kuek Ser
The Examination and The New York Times, The Poisonous Lead Trade, Will Fitzgibbon, Peter S. Goodman
Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism
Honors a single story or a series of explanatory reporting that provides insight and understanding of a significant and complex subject.
Micro Division
The Shoestring, “There’s a Lot of Money in Death”: Funeral Home Consolidation Hits Western Mass, Jonathan Gerhardson
Toledo Free Press, Condemned: Riverside Mobile Home Park series, Stephen Zenner
Small Division
The Journal, A Truer Picture of Homelessness in Kansas, Stefania Lugli
The Journal, Complicating Immigration Narratives in Kansas, Roy Wenzl
Richmondside, A Historic Teachers’ Strike, Jana Kadah
NowKalamazoo, Bad ‘News’: Mysteries, Misrepresentation, and Misinformation, Andrew Minegar, James Sanford
New Mexico In Depth, Inside New Mexico’s First Diversion Program for People Who Aren’t Competent to Stand Trial, Ted Alcorn
Suncoast Searchlight, Power and Profit, Josh Salman, Derek Gilliam, Kara Newhouse
Mississippi Free Press and Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, Grassroots Air Monitoring Helps People Track Pollution In Their Own Backyards. Those Efforts Are Under Threat in Louisiana, Illan Ireland
Medium Division
New York Focus and Columbia Journalism Investigations, Innocence Ignored, Ryan Kost, Willow Higgins, Oishika Neogi, Curtis Brodner
The War Horse, Terminating Treatment, Leah Rosenbaum
El Tímpano, As Health Care Contracts in Trump Era, Immigrants Run Out of Options, Staff
Berkeleyside, Zone Zero: Helping Berkeley Hills Residents Prevent Tragedy, Alex Gecan, Joanne Furio
Large Division
The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press, How a Trade War Could Hurt Farmers on Both Sides of the Canada-U.S. Border, Julia-Simone Rutgers
The Hechinger Report, How the Trump Administration Gutted Education Research, Jill Barshay
Type Investigations and High Country News, Lights Out, Emma Foehringer Merchant, Maria Parazo Rose
Honolulu Civil Beat, A Tragedy Explodes, Staff
The Connecticut Mirror, Two Families, One Child: the Case that Reshaped Foster Parents’ Rights in Connecticut, Ginny Monk
Breaking Barriers Award
Honors reporting that brought new understanding to an issue or topic affecting people or communities that are historically underrepresented, disadvantaged or marginalized, resulting in impactful change.
Micro Division
Voices of Monterey Bay/Gray Area Podcast, Travels with Corbett, Julie Reynolds, Mara J. Reynolds, Brenda Zorn
AfroLA, Foster Care Funding, Elizabeth Moss
Small Division
Arizona Luminaria, Missing Indigenous Girls, Chelsea Curtis
The Margin, Mourning Land that Leaves: Alaska Native Communities Grapple with Ecological Grief as Their Ancestral Lands Slowly Vanish, Jess Zhang, Ko Bragg, Katie Basile
The Margin, Arizona Luminaria, Deserted at the Border, Olga Loginova, Carolina Cuellar, Ash Ponders, Ko Bragg
New Mexico In Depth, Six Years After Her Son’s Homicide, a Navajo Mother Still Searches for Answers, Staff
Conecta Arizona, Mosaicos, Maritza L. Félix, Daniel Robles
Medium Division
The Imprint, State-Sponsored Abandonment, Sara Tiano
New York Focus, ICE Detention + Cheektowaga Investigations, Julia Rock, Isabelle Taft
InvestigateWest, Two Killings, No Explanation: Families Left Reeling After Bureau of Indian Affairs Shootings, Melanie Henshaw
Large Division
Grist, WBEZ, and Inside Climate News, Chicago’s Lead Crisis, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Keerti Gopal, Peter Aldhous, Clayton Aldern, Amy Qin
Bolts, High Country News, Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It, Alex Burness
Community Champion Award
Honors an INN member organization that made a significant contribution to the well-being of its community through a journalism-centered project or service.
Micro Division
AfroLA, Series on Eaton Fire Recovery, Corinne Ruff, Elizabeth Moss, William Jenkins, Fallon Brannon
Oviedo Community News, Seminole County’s Skeleton Crew Libraries, Makayla Gray, Abe Aboraya
Small Division
South Dakota News Watch, Engage South Dakota — Creating a Housing Consortium, Carson Walker, Bart Pfankuch
The Bridge, Housing Solutions in Central Vermont, Cassandra Hemenway, Rachel Pierce, Tracy Brannstrom, Phil Dodd, Sandra Vitzthum, John Lazenby, Terry J. Allen, Dana Dwinell-Yardley
LOOKOUT Publications, A Summer of Change, Joseph Darius Jaafari
Medium Division
Type Investigations, South Side Weekly, Fraudsters Target Immigrants Seeking Legal Help, Alma Campos, Max Blaisdell
El Tímpano, Disinformation Defense Workshops, Staff
Large Division
The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press, ‘Balancing Act’ or ‘Disaster’? Winnipeg’s Transit Overhaul, Mapped, Julia-Simone Rutgers, Malak Abas
Mississippi Today, The Black Box: Inside Mississippi’s Opioid Settlement Spending, Allen Siegler
Insight Award for Visual Journalism
Honors a single story or a series of stories that uses photography and/or other visual media to more accurately portray a community that has traditionally been underrepresented or misrepresented in news media.
Micro Division
The Xylom, Meet the Indian Fisherwomen Adapting to a New Normal, Laasya Shekhar, Aliya Bashir, T. Singaravelou
Toledo Free Press, Riverside Mobile Home Park series, Stephen Zenner
Small Division
Eden Prairie Local News, Rain or Shine, the PeopleFest! Party Draws Hundreds, Steve Silverman
El Tecolote, An Immigrant Came to San Francisco for Work. One Injury Changed Everything, Pablo Unzueta
Medium Division
The New Bedford Light, Hidden in Plain Sight, Eleonora Bianchi
Pittsburgh’s Public Source, Alcoa Mines Australia’s Forest, Quinn Glabicki, Jamie Wiggan
Large Division
The Trace, These Neighborhood Groups Are Fighting to Rewrite Brownsville’s Legacy of Violence, Robert Gerhardt
Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation/90.5 WESA, In the Periphery of a National Spotlight, Families with Autistic Children Struggle to Find Help, John Beale
Finalists in the Overall categories
INNovator Award
For an organization that produced an innovative idea or practice that had a positive financial impact on the newsroom and will help the newsroom serve its community or audience into the future.
The Oglethorpe Echo, How The Oglethorpe Echo is Making Newsroom Processes Better, Faster with AI, Staff
Conecta Arizona, Listening as Innovation: Building Joy, Safety and a Sustainable Information Infrastructure on the Border, Staff
Nashville Banner, Nashville Banner ZIP Code Project, Staff
Startup of the Year
Honors a young organization (publishing for less than three years) for establishing strong support of their journalism throughout the community and the revenue growth to sustain it.
Journalism Collaboration of the Year
Honors a news-oriented project or ongoing partnership that exemplifies the culture of sharing and cooperation in nonprofit news and expands the impact of its journalism.
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Investigative Journalism Bureau at the University of Toronto, the Howard Center for Investigative Reporting at the University of Maryland and partners across Europe, Bad Practice, Eiliv Frich Flydal (VG), George Greenwood (The Times), Kira Zalan (OCCRP)
The War Horse, NPR, Claim Sharks or Shepherds: Investigating the Companies that Make Billions off of Disabled Veterans, Quil Lawrence, Chris Arnold, Caley Fox Shannon; VA Warned These Companies They May Be Breaking the Law. Most Are Still in Business, Leah Rosenbaum
Grist, WBEZ, Inside Climate News, Chicago’s Lead Crisis, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Keerti Gopal, Peter Aldhous, Clayton Aldern, Amy Qin
Central Florida Public Media, Ocala Gazette, Orlando Sentinel, Osceola News-Gazette, Oviedo Community News, VoxPopuli, Winter Park Voice, WKMG News 6, WUCF, LkldNow, The Community Paper, Sleeping Behind Bars, Staff
MindSite News, South Side Weekly, Invisible Institute, Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago, Policing the Vulnerable, Josh McGhee, Diana Hembree and Rob Waters from MindSite News; Sam Stecklow, Dana Brozost-Kelleher and Isabelle Senechal from Invisible Institute; Adam Przybyl from South Side Weekly; and Kari Lydersen from Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago
Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year
Honors an individual who is new to the field of nonprofit news (less than two years) and is contributing to the success of their organization through innovation.
Zoe McIntyre, Springfield Daily Citizen
Francia Garcia Hernandez, Block Club Chicago
Emerging Leader of the Year
Honors an individual with less than five years in executive leadership who is an emerging luminary in the field.
Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, The Maine Monitor
Khadijah Bland, The Kansas City Defender
Betsy Ladyzhets, The Sick Times
Tonya Hart, Cardinal News
Join INN for the 2026 Nonprofit News Awards in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 16: Join the waitlist (finalists will be prioritized for attendance).
