INNovator Award

2025 Nonprofit News Awards

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.

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Micro Division — Winner: The Record North Shore
Small Division — Winner: Conecta Arizona
Medium Division — Winner: Prism
Large Division — Winner: Mirror Indy

INNovator Award – Micro division

The Record North Shore

The Record Express

The Record Express, a free, monthly print edition of The Record North Shore, is helping the news outlet engage its community and meet them where they are — in this case, a local coffee shop. The business partnership helps The Record North Shore offset the print costs and reach hundreds of people throughout the week.

The print edition features shorter versions of the main publication’s stories and QR codes that link to the full articles.

“In an era where most digital publishers are retreating from print, The Record has built a profitable, advertiser-supported print product through a thoughtful partnership with a local café,” one judge said. “This initiative deepens community ties, expands reach to commuters and coffee shop patrons, and reinforces their digital membership funnel. It’s a strategic blend of mission, revenue, and relationship-building that feels unusually mature for a newsroom of this size.”

Read the Winning Work

The Record, Central Station collaborate to put local news in your hands

Finalist

Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN), EPLN Prairie Pulse Events Newsletter, Joanna Werch Takes, Brianna Collett, Amy Nylander
LA Reporting Collective, LARC Reporting Incubator, Ari Saperstein, Molly Peterson, Khari Douglas, Alejandra Salazar, Nicolle Galteland, Stefanie Ritoper, Spencer Alcorn, Dana Amihere, Corinne Ruff, AfroLA

INNovator Award – Small division

Conecta Arizona

Beyond the Elections – Immigrants Belong

Journalists at Conecta Arizona make extra effort to empower and engage members of the communities they serve. The news outlet developed Voto Latino: El Mañana lo Construimos Hoy, Arizona’s only Spanish-language electoral forum and a vehicle through which hundreds of community members, “many for the first time, questioned elected officials, activists, and entrepreneurs directly in Spanish,” Founder and Director Maritza Félix said in the nomination letter.

Conecta Arizona also developed ways to counter misinformation and such as its WhatsApp

“Cafecitos,” or weekly digital gatherings. The outlet also collaborates with attorneys and accountants to answer complex legal and financial questions, organizes in-person information sessions and events in local neighborhoods, and creates and distributes “Know Your Rights” flyers and resource guides.

“Our approach is intentional and systematic: We listen, we respond, and we adapt our strategies based on what our community tells us they need,” Félix wrote.

Read the Winning Work

Conoce tus derechos en las protestas

Que te lo explique el abogado

“Todos debemos conocer nuestros derechos y subir la voz”, coinciden expertos en el ‘Diálogo Migratorio, navegando la tormenta en tiempos inciertos’

Finalist

Oklahoma Watch, Wisdom of the Nations, Ted Streuli, Shaun Witt

INNovator Award – Medium division

Prism

Reflective Journalism Project

Through its Reflective Journalism Project, Prism aims to deepen the pool of people of color trained in the editorial process and strengthen efforts to prioritize and advocate for marginalized communities. The project focuses on aspiring writers, community leaders and frontline social justice thinkers and organizers.

RJP “is a thoughtfully designed professional development initiative that reflects the newsroom’s values and commitment to building a more inclusive media landscape,” one judge wrote. “The workshop-based approach is accessible and responsive to the needs of its audience, and it’s clear that the team has put care into cultivating partnerships and creating space for underrepresented voices.”

Read the Winning Work

The Reflective Journalism Project

Reflective Journalism Project: Hope in Desolate Times

Reflective Journalism Project: Movement Journalism for Liberation Futures

Finalist

Cardinal News, The Pod Squad Heard Cardinal’s Audience, Dutchie Jessee, Zachary Shelton, Sherry Quinley, Staff

INNovator Award – Large division

Mirror Indy

Outside the Journalism Box by Jennifer Delgadillo

Jennifer Delgadillo, arts and culture editor at Mirror Indy, led efforts to incorporate the arts into the outlet’s reporting on land development projects that threaten a local historic Black cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. That work involved creating a “traveling story” or educational art exhibit that launched at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, an indoor arena, and was on display during three Indiana Pacers games, a concert, and a weeklong stay at a church and community school. The exhibit will continue traveling throughout this year, and there are plans to create a new exhibition based on another Mirror Indy story in 2026.

Delgadillo works with Indianapolis artists as newsgatherers, finding imaginative and innovative ways to tell stories that help connect the news outlet and the local community.

One judge described examples of the work Delgadillo helped produce as “beautiful and powerful.” “Too often, civic news is delivered in an ‘eat your vegetables’ format,” the judge wrote, “but (Delgadillo’s) work shows what’s possible when local news meets audiences where they are, moves them emotionally, and inspires thoughtfulness.”