Winners of the 2026 Nonprofit News Awards (INNYs) represent innovation, transformational leadership and impactful reporting despite a tough year for the industry marked by political tension and major funding cuts to public media outlets.
Almost a quarter of the winners did this work while focusing on an ongoing issue that’s urgent and complex for the communities they cover and, in some cases, themselves: the federal immigration crackdown.
Those winners highlighted the impact of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. They exposed financial schemes targeting immigrant families. They explained how new policies might shrink undocumented immigrants’ healthcare options.
One winning story wasn’t about immigration, but it explained the precarious status of American Samoans, who are U.S. nationals and not citizens.
The Institute for Nonprofit News announced INNYs winners — 26 awards across 11 categories — on June 16 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This year, the awards ceremony coincided with INN Days, the organization’s annual conference.
The INNYs honor excellence in journalism, leadership, innovation and public service across the field of nonprofit news, often showcasing stories of people and places not featured in traditional news reporting.
Overall, the winners covered topics ranging from abuse of students at a Jacksonville, Fla., high school to tips and explanations of how survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles-area wildfires could reclaim their property and rebuild their lives. The awards recognized powerful collaborations among news organizations, innovative audience engagement efforts, and dynamic leaders who have steered news organizations for years or decades.
Service Award honors nonprofit news pioneer
INN awarded the Service to Nonprofit News Award to Norberto Santana, Jr., the founder of 17-year-old Voice of OC, for his lasting contributions to the field. INN CEO Karen Rundlet called Santana a pioneer of the nonprofit news movement and an accomplished investigative reporter and leader.
“Engage Norberto in a conversation, and you’ll quickly discover his commitment to independent journalism, diverse staffing and coverage,” Rundlet said. “Make no mistake, though. Norberto also knows this work takes sound business practices. The entire field is better because Norberto is part of it.”
As a child, Santana sold flowers on street corners in Los Angeles. As an adult, he has earned a legacy for his leadership in nonprofit news, which has included several terms on the INN board of directors and continued service on the membership task force as well as serving on the boards of IRE and the California First Amendment advocacy group, CalAware. His long list of accolades also includes recognition for his commitment to diverse staffing and coverage. He’s also an award-winning columnist, focusing his efforts on First Amendment issues and local government.
Winning coverage on immigration hits home
In a similar spirit, many of the other INNYs winners’ work mirrors the diversity and complexities of the communities they cover. The winners also share a perspective that reflects the increasing number of INN members with a local focus.
One example is the winner of the Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year: Francia Garcia Hernandez of Block Club Chicago. In early 2025, Hernandez, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico, began covering the federal crackdown on immigration for Block Club Chicago. Hernandez, and INNYs judges, noted how her personal ties to the beat she covers are an asset.
“Journalists are trained to set aside our feelings and opinions, to recognize our biases and to pursue the truth above all else,” she said. “But I cannot set aside my status as an immigrant, nor would I want to.”
Photographs that hide people’s faces, a way to protect their identities, earned the New Bedford Light an Insight Award for Visual Journalism. Eleonara Bianchi captured splintered wood from the door frame damaged during a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents. Others capture people turned away from the camera or obscured behind symbolic objects. The creative risk paid off.
“The photos have humanity and a sense of immediacy, as if you are living the horror,” a judge said.
Other INNYs winners focused on the everyday challenges many immigrants face in a fraught political climate. In photographs and a story for El Tecolote, Pablo Unzueta centered Jacento B., a day laborer in San Francisco who lost a leg and his livelihood after a major accident on a job. One man’s story reflected the dangers and risks many more take, bolstering local economies in the Bay Area and across the country.
Alma Campos and Max Blaisdell of South Side Weekly, in collaboration with Type Investigations, won a Community Champion Award for delving into fraudulent practices targeting immigrants seeking legal help. Judges praised how they addressed an underreported topic and captured the related human cost.
Voices of Monterey Bay investigated a series of traffic stops by Fort Hunter Liggett police that escalated into at least 10 detentions by immigration officials. The reporting exposed military involvement in ICE enforcement operations and won a Best Investigative Journalism Award. George B. Sánchez-Tello had to navigate secretive, inaccessible networks and people’s fears to get the story that, as one judge noted, impacted the lives of the local Latino community and may have saved some people from deportation.
Reporting by El Tímpano staff addressed a concern for undocumented immigrants’ lives: new state and federal policies that would reduce their healthcare options. The reporting addressed how fear often leads people to delay or avoid care and the related emotional toll. The staff also explained and distributed its reporting in multiple languages to better serve its audience — and won an Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism.
Conecta Arizona won the INNovator Award for its audience engagement and coverage, including the aftermath of an ICE raid on a local family from Nicaragua. Staff use multiple means and platforms, such as vertical videos and WhatsApp, to serve its audience practical advice in plain language. They’ve built a strong, continuous connection that’s not limited to breaking news.
INN members’ coverage of citizenship and related issues such as voting rights wasn’t limited to immigration. A Breaking Barriers Award went to Bolts and High Country News for their reporting on how American Samoans are U.S. nationals — American by birth and eligible for military enlistment but denied the full rights and privileges of citizenship. Judges praised the work for centering American Samoan residents who are facing the “devastating effects” of the policies.
It was, as one judge noted, “superb journalism.”
