Seven Days, Willamette Week and The Stranger Lead a Deep Field
A whopping 862 entries in 32 categories from 57 publications brings us to this: We’re pleased to announce the Finalists for the 2026 AAN Awards.
With 12 finalist nods, Seven Days (Burlington, Vt.) leads the field again in 2026. Willamette Week (Portland, Ore.) and The Stranger (Seattle, Wash.) each earn nine, while Isthmus (Madison, Wis.), Nashville Scene, AfroLA (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Open Vallejo (Vallejo, Calif.) all notch five apiece. Reno News & Review, Chicago Reader, San Antonio Current and Lookout Phoenix each claim four. Baltimore Beat, Washington City Paper, NJ Vindicator (Newark, N.J.), Creative Loafing Tampa, Mississippi Free Press and Austin Chronicle each walk with three finalist placements.
Order of placement will be revealed at the 2026 AAN Awards evening ceremony on July 9, 2026, in Palm Springs, Calif. Congratulations to all finalists, and thank you to everyone who entered this year.
In all, 47 publications earned at least one finalist spot across editorial, design and business categories — a field that reflects both the breadth of the AAN membership and the quality of work being produced at independent outlets from Seattle to Iowa City, Jacksonville to the desert West and upstate New York to South Central Texas.
This year’s finalists tackled some of the hardest stories in a country that is besieged by hard stories. Immigration raids and their human costs. Incarcerated firefighters. Juvenile detention abuse. Police killings concealed for years. Academic freedom under siege. Heat deaths in cities that refused to count them. The Alternative Newsmedia mission — to report what others won’t in communities that trust them—is well represented in these awards and in these unprecedented times.
AAN Excellence in Journalism Award
- Health insurance reporting — Benjamin Hardy, Arkansas Times
- Shaken dry: LADWP’s failure to plan and repair for the “Big One” — Katie Licari, AfroLA
- Under the Badge — Celina Jimenez, Lookout Phoenix
- Mississippi Immigrants, ICE and Detention — Nick Judin, Taylor Brandon, CJ Charlton, Mississippi Free Press
Arts Criticism (Jim Ridley Award)
- Top 25 Oregon Movies of the Past 25 Years — Chance Solem-Pfeifer, Willamette Week
- D.L. Groover Theater Columns — D.L. Groover, Houston Press
- Film Criticism — Dom Sinacola, Portland Mercury
- Music Criticism — Nolan Parker, Portland Mercury
Arts Feature — Long Form
- Art of Politics — Bob Keefer, Eugene Weekly
- Fantasy A Gets a Crystal Ball! — Vivian McCall, The Stranger
- Lowering the curtain — Daniella Mazzio and Philip Montoro, Chicago Reader
- Junk Artist — Stephanie Koithan, San Antonio Current
Arts Feature — Shorter Form
- A complicated legacy: Dani Putney, the non-binary child of a mail-order bride, comes to peace with a fractured identity — Max Stone, Reno News and Review
- Tampa Bay’s buzzing feminist sex toy market replaces shame with activism — Selene San Felice, Creative Loafing Tampa
- Jenn Taiga talks swords, sadomasochism, and synthesizers ahead of new album and tour — Colin Williams, Pittsburgh City Paper
- Arthur Tress shows another side of gayness — Glen Starkey, New Times San Luis Obispo
Beat Reporting
- The Vallejo police shooting of Alexander Schumann — Geoffrey King, Matthew Brown, Nick Roberts, Sarah Hopkins, Open Vallejo
- Police accountability reporting by Mathew Schumer — Mathew Schumer, Washington City Paper
- Trans Coverage — Vivian McCall, The Stranger
- The War on Drugs — Logan Hullinger, Baltimore Beat
Column (Billy Manes Award)
- Seriously? — Jennifer Fumiko Cahill, North Coast Journal
- From the editor — Judith Davidoff, Isthmus
- Disinfect | Payday | Backroom Billy — City Paper Editorial Board, Charleston City Paper
- Play Date Column — Nathalie Graham, The Stranger
Column — Political
- Indy Digest — Jimmy Boegle, Coachella Valley Independent
- Donna Ladd’s Democracy Essays — Donna Ladd, Mississippi Free Press
- Betsy Phillips Column — Betsy Phillips, Nashville Scene
- From the Editors — The Editors, Erie Reader
Cover Design
- The Stranger Covers — The Stranger
- The Taking Tree, 25 Movies, Portlander of the Year — Whitney McPhie, Willamette Week
- Erie Reader Cover Art — Nick Warren and Nicholas Cardell Gore, Erie Reader
- Inlander Cover Design — Derrick King and Erick Doxey, Inlander
Digital Wildcard
- The Haskell Free Library Finds a Solution to Border Restrictions — Eva Sollberger, Seven Days
- Michael Karlis Video Reports — Michael Karlis, San Antonio Current
- Delaney Hall and beyond: The year in immigration enforcement and its human toll — Andres Kudacki and Krystal Knapp, NJ Vindicator
- How It Happened: Timeline of Immigration Raid in Carpinteria — Ryan P. Cruz, Elaine Sanders, Maya Johnson, Santa Barbara Independent
Editorial Layout — Print
- To Bee or Not to Bee — Whitney McPhie, Willamette Week
- The Meat of the Matter: The Real Costs of Local Livestock Farming — Evelyn Nelson, Jade Juedes, McKenna Scherer, Volume One
- Poolin’ Around — Coranton Hale, Char Harris, Anthony Keo, The Stranger
- Pie, Pie My Darling — Corianton Hale, The Stranger
Environmental Coverage
- Vermont’s Loggers and Sawmills Are Disappearing — and That’s Bad News for Forests — Jonathan Mingle, Seven Days
- The Uncounted: Extreme Heat Deaths in a City That Refuses to Look — Marisol Cortez and Greg Harman, Deceleration
- The Taking Tree — Sophie Peel, Willamette Week
- A community left behind: PFAS crisis unfolds on Lambertville’s Connaught Hill — Jeff Pillets, NJ Vindicator
Explanatory Journalism
- “Educators Hate It, So Why Is Texas Keeping the STAAR Test Alive?” — Brant Bingamon, Austin Chronicle
- Vallejo advocate charged over ‘offensive words,’ raising constitutional concerns — Matthew Brown and Geoffrey King, Open Vallejo
- Climate Shifts Could Reshape Oregon’s Pinot Noir Industry — Branden Andersen, Newsberg
- Gateway to Nowhere — Sophie Peel, Asa Gartrell, Senya Scott, Seychelle Marks-Bienen, Willamette Week
Feature Photography
- Dave Decker — Dave Decker, Creative Loafing Tampa
- Skateboards Only: The Marginal Way Skatepark Has Been Carving Out DIY Space for 20 Years — Liam Griffith, The Stranger
- Ridge Donut Cafe works to rise above the complexities baked into running a donut shop — Roberto Felipe Lagares, City Newspaper
- Overnight at Sakuracon — West Smith, The Stranger
Feature Story — Long Form
- Keepers of the quiet goodbye: Hospice for unhoused people — Scott Thomas Anderson, Sacramento News and Review
- All the singlet ladies: Little Rock Central High’s girls wrestling team dominates the state — Matt Campbell, Arkansas Times
- The ghosts of Geneva’s ‘home for wayward girls’ — Katie Prout, Chicago Reader
- ‘We are not moving on’ – How a Pasadena church is helping one senior through wildfire recovery — Corinne Ruff, AfroLA
Feature Story — Shorter Form
- ‘Until there is no longer a list:’ Memorial honors 250 of Tucson’s homeless who died — Mia Kortright and Paul Ingram, Tucson Sentinel
- Newest Americans — Lucy Tompkins, Seven Days
- Facing our darker history: As the feds censor narratives about racism, local officials tell the truth about Reno’s Chinatown and its government-ordered destruction — Frank X. Mullen, Reno News and Review
- Blind Mother Seeks Right to Care for her Son — Maggie Dougherty and Zach Adams, Illinois Times
Food Writing
- Food Writing by Margaret Littman — Margaret Littman, Nashville Scene
- Middle Eastern restaurant Old School keeps it commercial-free — Mike Sula, Chicago Reader
- Jordan Barry — Jordan Barry, Seven Days
- Food Writing — Ron Bechtol, San Antonio Current
Free Speech & Democracy
- Vallejo advocate charged over ‘offensive words,’ raising constitutional concerns — Matthew Brown and Geoffrey King, Open Vallejo
- Unearthing disturbing details about Pete Hegseth’s past — Sara Rubin, Monterey County Weekly
- Portlander of the Year: The Frog — Rachel Saslow, Willamette Week
- Academic Freedom at Mississippi Schools and Universities Under New Trump Administration — Torsheta Jackson, Jaylin R. Smith, Ashton Pittman, Heather Harrison, Mississippi Free Press
Health Care Reporting
- Psychedelic therapy: Nevada patients, doctors and lawmakers push for a legal pathway — Jason Sarna, Reno News and Review
- Diverted from jail — Caleb Wiseblood, Santa Maria Sun
- Operation: Merger — Anthony Effinger, Willamette Week
- Healing Algorithms — Ken Picard, Seven Days
Housing
- Unhoused in Orlando — McKenna Schueler, Orlando Weekly
- Pennsylvania Homeless Advocates Condemn Trump’s Plans to Punish the Unhoused, Involuntarily Commit Them — Pat LaMarche, Bucks County Beacon
- Felony Landlords: How Jacksonville’s Rental Market is the Wild West — Carmen Macri, Folio
- Satisfying Settlement — Kevin Fitzgerald, Coachella Valley Independent
Illustration
- In Memoriam 2025 — Taylor Stringer, Nashville Scene
- Hippie Christmas — Megan Stout, Isthmus
- Curling — Kyle Olson, Isthmus
- Pet yoga — Courtney Dicmas, Isthmus
Immigration Coverage
- Black immigrants navigate dual identities and erasure as ICE crackdowns continue — Aaricka Washington and Michelle Zacarias, AfroLA and CALÓ News
- South Texas internment camps — Dean Zach, San Antonio Current
- Smoke and Mirrors: Fallout from Federal Raids at Glass House Farms — Ryan P. Cruz, Tyler Hayden, Nick Welsh, Santa Barbara Independent
- Immigration in Vermont —Lucy Tompkins, Seven Days
Investigative Reporting (David Carr Award)
- Juvenile detention centers — Madeleine O’Neill, Baltimore Beat
- ‘I can’t breathe’: video shows death Vallejo police concealed for years — Anna Bauman, Geoffrey King, Nick Roberts, Laurence Du Sault, Open Vallejo
- Crash, call, collect: Midtown clinic linked to RICO scheme enterprise — Scott Johnson, Lagniappe
- Police call to OB mayor’s second office spurs questions — Rob Holbert and Kyle Hamrick, Lagniappe
LGBTQ+ Coverage
- Long Live the Queens — Andrew Jankowski, Rachel Saslow, Brianna Wheeler, Nicole Eckrich, Tim Tran, Charlie Bloomer, Willamette Week
- Mia Kortright — Tucson-area LGBTQ reporting — Mia Kortright, Tucson Sentinel
- Queerness and Far-Right Politics — Tori Gantz, Lookout Phoenix
- Escaping Arizona — Ellie Samsal and Joseph Darius Jaafari, Lookout Phoenix
Marketing Campaign (House Ads or Developed for a Client)
- F*ck Marry Kill — Cassie Arredondo, Zeke Barbaro, Cassidy Frazier, Austin Chronicle
- Out on A Limb Campaign — Jen Bartlett, Athens County Independent
- Best of Nashville 2025 — Elizabeth Jones, Tracey Starck, Mary Louise Meadors, Sandi Harrison, Nashville Scene
Music Writing
- C-VILLE toured the open-mic circuit and here’s what we heard — Tami Keaveny, Ella Powell, CM Turner, C-VILLE Weekly
- Music Writing by Bobbie Jean Sawyer — Bobbie Jean Sawyer, Nashville Scene
- Music writing by Taylor Ruckle — Taylor Ruckle, Washington City Paper
- Chris Farnsworth — Chris Farnsworth, Seven Days
News Photography
- Open Vallejo news photography — Geoffrey King, Open Vallejo
- Dave Decker — Dave Decker, Creative Loafing Tampa
- Exposed — James Buck, Seven Days
- Delaney Hall Protests — Andres Kudacki, NJ Vindicator
News Story — Long Form
- A Man’s Battle With Mental Illness Led to a Spasm of Violence in Milton — Colin Flanders, Seven Days
- Emmanuel Irono Was Barred from D.C. Contracts, Now He’s Trying to Build a Restaurant Empire — Alex Koma, Washington City Paper
- Harris County Death Sentences Can Last a Lifetime — April Towery, Houston Press
- The Disappearing Registrants — Thadeus Greenson, North Coast Journal
News Story — Shorter Form
- No Children — Joanna Hou, Willamette Week
- Highway patrol trooper returns to duty after deadly July crash — Shiloh Antonuccio, Athens County Independent
- Incarcerated firefighters face trauma without equal support and pay — Audy McAfee, AfroLA
- Fisheries face threats — Jack O’Toole, Charleston City Paper
Newsletter
- Isthmus Insider — Judith Davidoff, Isthmus
- Stet News — Staff, STET News
- Eyes on the State by LOOKOUT — Tori Gantz, Lookout Phoenix
- Sunday Best — Seven Days Editors, Seven Days
Solutions Journalism
- Solutions Journalism — Madeleine O’Neill, Baltimore Beat
- Helpline provides counseling to address – and prevent – relationship violence — Elizabeth Moss, AfroLA
- “If You Build It…” — Brant Bingamon, Austin Chronicle
- Returning to Balance: Harm Reduction in Native Communities — Rachael Schuit, Crosswinds News
Special Publication — Print
- Seven Daysies: All the Best: The Locals’ Guide to Vermont — Seven Days
- The Rochester Ten — City Newspaper
- How to Seattle — The Stranger
- Inlander Annual Manual — Inlander
Special Section — Print
- 30th Birthday Issue — Seven Days
- Best of Northern Nevada 2025 — Reno News and Review
- Peak Iowa 2025 — Little Village
- The People Issue 2025 — Chicago Reader
AAN Publishers is the professional association for alternative and independent news publishers across North America. AAN members serve communities in cities and regions underserved by mainstream media, producing award-winning journalism, arts coverage, and investigative reporting. Learn more at aan.org.
