CHICAGO — Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom focused on Chicago’s neighborhoods, was named a finalist for eight LION Publishers Local Journalism Awards, including Publisher of the Year.
The annual awards recognize excellence in journalism and business at local independent online news publishers.
Block Club, a reader-funded, non-partisan news site which launched in 2018, is one of two finalists for the Publisher of the Year Award (medium/large) with The Omaha Reader, a nationally-recognized alternative news monthly in Nebraska.
Block Club is also a finalist for:
- Best Solutions Project of the Year, for its free, bilingual COVID-19 hotline that connects people to testing, vaccines, rent relief and other critical information and resources.
- Public Service Award, for its reporting on Ida Nelson, a mother fighting to change the rules at her 4-year-old son’s school after it forced her to remove his braids. Ida and her son are Black. The story inspired a state senator to write a bill, which became law, that bans anti-Black hair discrimination across the entire state.
- Best Breaking News, for its coverage of the killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by police, including stories that provided context on the officer who killed Toledo, resident reactions and policy changes that were announced by officials in response to the killing.
- Collaboration of the Year, for its impactful collaboration with the Better Government Association to produce a running series of investigative reports that exposed mismanagement and corruption at a Loretto Hospital.
- Best Visual Journalism Project, for its “A Year of Loss” project, which marked one year since COVID-19 had come to Chicago and included nearly 30 stories, videos, photos, interactive graphics and a specialty newsletter.
- Best Coverage of Protests And Movements, for its sensitive coverage of the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and the subsequent community protests.
- General Excellence: Revenue Growth, for capitalizing on local stories to effectively launch merchandise campaigns to raise revenue.
See all of the LION Publishers Local Journalism Awards finalists here.
Block Club has published more than 14,000 stories since its launch, covering everything from Chicago’s beloved Chance the Snapper to vaccine scandals at Loretto Hospital. In the past year, its staff has answered more than 900 questions from Chicagoans through its free, bilingual COVID-19 hotline, connecting residents with testing, vaccines, financial relief and more.
Listen to “It’s All Good: A Block Club Chicago Podcast” here: