The Houston Landing has earned yet another national accolade this week, bringing home a third-place prize from the National Headliner Awards. The awards contest, in its 91st year, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest.
“National Headliners is a historic contest and one of the most competitive awards in the country. The recognition for best independent local community news site is a direct reflection on how our team serves Houston,”said Houston Landing Editor-in-Chief Manny García. “Our team is all about Houston. It is truly an honor.”
The Houston Landing staff earned third place in the Headliner’s digital independent community news site category, which celebrates the accomplishments of local news organizations without the corporate backing enjoyed by many of the nation’s legacy news operations like daily newspapers. Michigan’s BridgeDetroit earned a second-place nod in the category, while Cascadia Daily News in Washington state took home the top honors.
The honor comes less than a week after the Landing brought home 13 awards in the annual Texas Managing Editors contest, and days after two Landing reporters were named finalists for the ultra-competitive Livingston Awards.
While the Livingstons, along with many of the state awards, focus on the work of one reporter at a time, Headliner judges evaluated a wide range of Landing projects from across the organization.
The Landing’s nomination included the newsroom’s interactive voter guide, which focused largely on down-ballot races where results could have the greatest influence on the lives of Houstonians, an investigation into Houston ISD’s expulsion of homeless students, a practice that violated Texas laws and longform stories reported over the course of several months.
“I’m so grateful to see the Landing honored in this way, especially given the hard work we’ve put in over the past two years to tell stories in innovative ways. Spearheading the creation of our annual voter guides — an effort that spanned across multiple teams — was truly a labor of love,” said Houston Landing reporter Tim Carlin. “Last year, we set out to make an accessible resource that placed resident needs at the forefront. Seeing our months of work honored in this way only speaks to the dedication of the entire Landing team.”
It’s likely the award will be the Landing’s last. The nonprofit newsroom learned earlier this month that it will cease operations on May 15 due to financial issues.
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