Hello Readers:
We’ve had a lot of good news last week. First, Garbage Odyssey, an investigation of San Francisco’s bizarre and costly quest for the perfect trash can, won an Insight Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
On Saturday, Mission Local won a General Excellence award from the Online News Association for our submission: Small, but Mighty, a selection of five pieces that we hoped would show the breadth and depth of our coverage. Apparently, they did. Our entry included:
- Web of Corruption, an interactive series produced by Will Jarrett with loads of stories that Joe Eskenazi broke.
- Uber and Lyft taking a bigger piece of the driver’s earnings, by David Mamaril Horowitz.
- Garbage Odyssey, by Lydia Chávez.
- Everett teachers begged district for help long before articles on violent and chaotic conditions, by Joe Eskenazi and Eleni Balakrishnan.
- Abby holds onto her dreams, a multimedia project by Sindya Bhanoo, Molly Oleson, Hélène Goupil and supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
It is wonderful to have the staff honored by the ONA and INN. It is also a recognition of our reader’s smart support. We could not have grown to a paid staff of five without you. So yes, we all won!
One of the charms of working at Mission Local is the people I meet. I get tips from a local resident who hangs out at Delirium on what’s happening on 16th Street and wonderful invites to chat with – and learn from – experts who live in or near the Mission, like Robert Weiner and Melissa Perez. Great neighbors who have a lot of expertise in nonprofits and fundraising!
I’m still on that learning curve. In the meantime, thanks to everyone – staff and readers – for your support.
More soon,
Lydia