Honors a young organization (operating for less than three years) for establishing strong support of their journalism throughout the community and the revenue growth to sustain it.

2024 Award Winner

Flatwater Free Press

The Flatwater Free Press launched in 2021 as an investigative and enterprise news outlet that covers Nebraska. Editor Matt Hansen said that in 33 months, the news outlet “has gone from an idea — a dream, really — to Nebraska’s oh-so-real and indispensable source for investigative and depth journalism. By every metric, it is working.”

“Please do not take my word for it – I’m wildly biased,” Hansen wrote. “The publication has been successful with fundraising, audience growth and engagement or building diverse, sustainable revenue streams.”

In 33 months, the outlet’s newsletter subscriber list has grown from zero to 23,011, and the Friday newsletter’s open rate tops 60%. The website averages 78,000 monthly views. The average FFP story reaches more than 400,000 readers, Hansen wrote, noting Nebraska’s population is about 1.9 million. And those are just a few of the numbers Hansen shared to illustrate how, in a short period of time, FFP has secured a “deep, wide funding base” and strong community support as well as a measurable impact of its reporting.

Finalists

• Athens County Independent
• Investigative Journalism Foundation
• MindSite News
• Spotlight Delaware