ANNOUNCING THE 2023 WINNERS

The EPPY™ Awards
 honor the best in digital news publishing across 
more than 45 diverse categories,
and are conducted in conjunction with

Website/ APP categories

 Best daily newspaper website
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #45)
1^st place: The Boston Globe

Judge’s comments:

 BostonGlobe.com reflects the diverse, exciting, and intense nature of its home, providing a great resource to their community.

 Wow. Overwhelmed with information. Great stories, organization, graphics, updates. What a newspaper on a computer should be. Wow again.

Runner up: Community Impact
----------------------

 

Best weekly or non-daily newspaper website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #46)
1^st place: La Noticia

 Runner up: Houston Defender Network
----------------------

 

Best sports news website 
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #47)

1^st place: The Boston Globe Sports

----------------------

  

Best online-only news website 
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #48)
1^st place: CalMatters 

Judge’s comments:

 Love the interactive features that immerse the reader into a deeper experience. Great content that's specific to a defined audience.
----------------------

 

Best online-only news website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #49)
1^st place: The Brazilian Report

Judge’s comments:

 A well-built site that offers a clean design and a plethora of content. It is worth considering making contact information and advertising/sponsorship information more prominent on the footer.

 Runner up: Heatmap News
----------------------

 

Best local radio news website
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #52)
1^st place: WHYY News
----------------------

 

Best business / finance website site
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #53)
1^st place: McKinsey Global Publishing
----------------------

 

Best business / finance website site
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #54)
1^st place: GrowthSpotter

Judge’s comments:

 =The categorization and tagging of articles provide a simple yet effective way for consumers to find the content most relevant to them.
----------------------

 

Best entertainment / cultural news website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #56)
1^st place: OnMilwaukee.com

Runner up: Religion News Service
----------------------

 

Best magazine website
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #60)
1^st place: Consumer Reports
---------------------

 

Best magazine website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #59)
1^st place: CARE News & Stories
---------------------

 

Best Black newspaper website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #71)
1^st place: Defender Network
----------------------

 

Best Hispanic newspaper website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #72)
1^st place: LaNoticia.com
----------------------

Best mobile news app
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #58)
1^st place: Reform Austin App
----------------------

 

Best overall website design
(1-million or more unique visitors. Category #40)
1^st place: Las Vegas Weekly
“Las Vegas Weekly - The locals' guide to Vegas” 

Judge’s comments: 

Everything Vegas on this website. A lot to take in. 

Runner-up: Lianhe Zaobao / SPH Media Ltd
“Same Same but Different”
----------------------

Best overall website design
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #41)
1^st place: The Brazilian Report

 Judge’s comments: 

Clean, easy to navigate.

 Runner-up: ReligionUnplugged.com
----------------------

 

Best website navigation design
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #24)
1^st place: Religion Unplugged
ReligionUnplugged.com

 Judge’s comments: 

Clean and airy design. Great use of white space! Love the large, featured content block at the top of the site, surrounded by a selection of other enticing reads. As you scroll, the stackable modules make good sense, and lead me through the site. ... Also, truthfully, the lack of ad modules on the site gives them an edge when it comes to design!

 Runner up: The Brazilian Report
Brazilian.Report
----------------------

Best home page design
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #26)

1^st place: The Brazilian Report
Brazilian.Report

 Judge’s comments:

Clear headlines, easy to navigate while packed with content. Nice use of organic SEO. Great use of value-added features. 

Runner-up: Religion Unplugged
“ReligionUnplugged.com”
----------------------

 

Best redesign/ relaunch
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #42)
1^st place: STAT homepage redesign 

Runner-up: The Brazilian Report
---------------------

 

Content categories 

Best collaborative investigative/enterprise reporting
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #1)
1^st place: ProPublica and NBC News Digital
“Over policing parents”

Judge’s comments: 

Just brutal and heartbreaking all at the same time. Shining a light on a piece of our society that is hidden because of the racial and economic makeup of the victims. I am more informed after reading this. I would have given a 5 but wanted a few more multi-media items.

Runner up: WHYY News and Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting
“Stop and Frisk: Revisit or Resist.”
---------------------

 Best collaborative investigative/enterprise reporting
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #38)
1^st place: OCCRP
(With: IStories, IrpiMedia, Tamedia, Reporter.Lu, Siena, Transparency International UK, Follow The Money, Le Monde, The Times, YLE, Infolibre, Paper Trail Media, Re:Baltica, Paper Trail Media, Der Standard, Delfi Meedia, Forbes, Tamedia)
“The Rotenberg Files”

 Judge’s comments:

 Overarching, far-reaching collaboration among many media outlets diving deep into Russian oligarchs and their assets; the inclusion of the FAQs and the listing of the team gives additional depth to the story. 

Runner-up: La Noticia
“North Carolina ICE bill revives questions about sheriffs' authority and due process for immigrants”
----------------------

  

Best investigative/enterprise feature
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #2)
1^st place: The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com
“The bitter end”

Judge’s comments: 

The story does a very strong job bringing the data by telling the stories of the residents, their families and those committing the violence. In this way, one can hope that memory care centers can find better operational solutions and families can do better diligence.

Runner up: The Tennessean
“Uneven Ground: Exceptional Black farmers and their fight to flourish in the South”
----------------------

Best investigative/enterprise feature
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #4)
1^st place: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
“Deforestation Inc.”

Judge’s comments: 

 It was difficult, even dangerous, work to report this multi-national impactful story. Extremely complicated material very clearly told. Exhaustive and excellent work. Important story.

Runner up: STAT
“Denied by AI: How algorithms are driving denial of health coverage claims”
----------------------

 

Best use of data/infographics
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #3)
1^st place: The Tennessean
“Uneven Ground: Exceptional Black farmers and their fight to flourish in the South.”

Judge’s comments:

A broad sweep of issues impacting Black farmers, their hardships, and the impact of white supremacy on their ability to continue to farm.

Fantastic landing page and beautiful data storytelling. The focus on the positive stories of entrepreneurs is incredibly important and, unfortunately, rare. Congrats on highlighting the good happening for these farmers and entrepreneurs.

Runner up: CNN Digital
“19 states have laws restricting gender-affirming care, some with the possibility of a felony charge”
----------------------

 Best community service project/reporting
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #6)
1^st place: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, ASU and AZ Center for Investigative Reporting
“In the Sheriff We Trust”

Judge’s comments:

 Wow. Important, timely and extremely relevant reporting on an overlooked but frightening trend. Good explanatory work, including important context. The work clearly made a difference in policy for some states. Hopefully, with a wider audience it will create more scrutiny and questions. Really impressive that this was done by an "independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit newsroom." I'll be watching this story closely going forward. Congratulations.

Runner up: Religion Unplugged
“Ensign Peak Advisers faces Judgment”
----------------------

 Best community service project/reporting
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #7)
1^st place: USA Today Graphics
“USA TODAY Graphics health guides” 

Runner up: The Boston Globe
“Can Gen Z afford to live in Boston?”
----------------------


Best innovation project on a website
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #9)
1^st place: CNN as Equals
“Maternal mental health: Nine women and the challenges they faced during 'the happiest time of their lives.'” 

Runner up: The Boston Globe
“Two weeks in America”

----------------------

Best innovation project on a website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #17)
1^st place: Mexicanos contra la Corrupción
“Endless murders of women”

 Judge’s comments:
Detailed reporting exposed, through personal stories, digging for data and information, abuse, neglect, and disregard that costs the lives of women. Important reporting and disclosures. 

Runner up: Economic Hardship Reporting Project
“Washed Away: How disaster relief leaves Kentucky’s landslide victims behind”
----------------------

Best business reporting on a website
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #10)
1^st place: The Boston Globe
“Boston doesn't work if the T doesn't work”

Judge’s comments: 

"It means the stress and uncertainty of not knowing whether you will make it to your meeting on time, or how long your kid needs to get to school. It undermines the investment in jobs and housing built to be close to the trains. More than that, it’s a sense of feeling cheated." This piece did a great job bringing to light the downstream effects delayed trains have and cause.

Solid business/human interest piece.

Runner up: Community Impact
“Manufactured housing sees a rise in demand in Montgomery County”
----------------------

 Best business reporting on a website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #11)
1^st place: STAT
“The inside story of how data integrity issues roiled a biotech seen as ‘Moderna 2.0.’”

 Runner up: OCCRP
“Beneficial ownership data is critical in the fight against corruption”
----------------------

Best use of social media/crowd sourcing
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #12)
1^st place: USA TODAY Graphics
“Life became suffering. Illustrated stories from the siege of Mariupol.’”

 Runner up: The Boston Globe
“Boston marathon bombing: 10 years later”
----------------------
 

Best news or event feature
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #13)
1^st place: NBC News Digital
“Boiling Point: A City’s Fight for Clean Water” 

Judge’s comments: 

Second best storytelling sequencing of all entries. Great use of music to set emotional tones. Felt as though the content could have been deeper as the video seem to overly stress the theme of the story consistently (the community stepping up themselves). The story seems to answer the viewers next question, right before the viewer thinks of it. This is very intentional storytelling. Created to purposely stimulate action and I'm sure that it did. 

Rich, highly visual storytelling.

 Runner up: NBC News Digital
“Life, Death and Cop City: The Fight Over the Future of Policing”
----------------------


Best news or event feature video
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #37)
1^st place: Retro Report and WORLD
“Extremism in America”

 Judge’s comments: 

Gritty storytelling, that explores a very serious story over the arc of a generation. This is video storytelling that contextualizes a significant modern-day threat to America. The audience of this short film should feel more educated on the topic of extremism in America when finished. Great work!

 Runner-up: Retro Report and WORLD
“Generations Stolen”
----------------------

 

 Best promotional/marketing campaign
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #15)
1^st place: Lee Enterprises
“Where your story lives”
----------------------

 Best investigative/enterprise video
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #16)
1^st place: NBC News Now
(With: Zinhle Essamuah, Correspondent; Arleen Aguasvivas, Producer/Editor; Maura Murphy, Producer/Shooter; Jackie Montalvo, Producer/Editor; Jordan Malter, Senior Producer; Erin Einhorn, NBC News reporter; Annie Waldman, ProPublica reporter; Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project reporter; Julie Shapiro, Senior Features editor; Ventura Castro, Graphics)
“Shackles and solitary: Louisiana juvenile facilities”
----------------------
 

Best podcast
(More than1 million unique visitors. Category #18)
1^st place: Bloomberg News
“In Trust”
----------------------


Best podcast
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #14)
1^st place: The Podcast Team, MIT Technology Review
“You want a job? The AI will see you now.”

Runner up: To the Best of Our Knowledge and Economic Hardship Reporting Project
“Going for broke”
----------------------

Best use of social media/crowd sourcing
(Fewer than1 million unique visitors. Category #19)
1^st place: Religion Unplugged
“Faint signs of faith.”
----------------------

 Best news/ political blog
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #20)
1^st place: Raw Story
----------------------

Best news/ political blog
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #30)
1^st place: Honolulu Civil Beat
“The Sunshine Blog” 

Judge’s comments: 

Really appreciated the informal tone, the hyperlinks, and the transparency of the reporting process in this blog.

Runner-up: The Brazilian Report
“How Bolsonaro loads the dice ahead of the presidential runoff”
----------------------

 Best photojournalism on a website
(Fewer than 1 million unique visitors. Category #21)
1^st place: Religion Unplugged: Garry Lotulung
“Digging up the dead in Indonesia.”

 Judge’s comments:

 Quite the piece to read on Halloween!!

 Runner up: Religion Unplugged: Dagen Norway
“A Nordic's journey to understand Christianity in America”
----------------------


Best photojournalism on a website
(1-million or more unique visitors. Category #39)
1^st place: The Boston Globe
“How a hard-working, middle-class family spiraled into homelessness.”

 Judge’s comments:

 Compelling storytelling through the photos, makes it personal as we see the family in the various places they called "home," interspersed with data and statistics.

 Runner-up: CNN Digital
“Her mother was a victim of femicide. Now her aunt is raising her”
----------------------


Best editorial/ political cartoon
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #22)
1^st place: Ward Sutton, cartoonist and illustrator
For The Boston Globe
-----------------------

 

Best editorial/ political cartoon
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #28)
1^st place: Dennis Draughon, Capitol Broadcasting Co., Inc.

 Judge’s comments:

Straight forward, context and perspective clearly given. Very solid political cartoons.

 Exactly what Art is meant to be - jarring, leaves you uncomfortable, but forever thinking about what we can do differently. 

Runner-up: Nick Anderson RA News
“ReligionUnplugged.com”
----------------------

Best cause marketing/ corporate social responsibility campaign
(1 million or more unique visitors. Category #25)
1^st place: Lianhe Zaobao / SPH Media Ltd
“Same Same but Different”
----------------------

Best investigative/ enterprise video  
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #29)
1^st place: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, ASU and AZ Center for Investigative Reporting
“In the Sheriff We Trust”

 Runner-up: Religion Unplugged
“Religious Persecution in India”
----------------------

Best incorporation of sponsored/branded content
(1-million or more unique visitors. Category #31)
1^st place: NBCUniversal News Group
“NBC News x MSC Cruises: Coral Reefs”

 Runner-up: McKinsey Global Publishing
“McKinsey Explainers”
----------------------

Best use of data/ infographics
(Fewer than 1-million unique visitors. Category #33)
1^st place: Grist, The Bitter Southerner, Economic Hardship Reporting Project
“Washed Away: How disaster relief leaves Kentucky’s landslide victims behind.”

Judge’s comments:

 A brilliant use of a medium to bring light to something that might fly under the radar for folks.

 Runner-up: Religion Unplugged
“How Many People Leave Their Childhood Religion?”
----------------------

Best sports video
(1-million or more unique visitors. Category #34)
1^st place: CNN Sports
“The fight for motherhood in the world of soccer”
---------------------

 

Best business/ finance blog
(1-million or more unique visitors. Category #44)
1^st place: Andrew Ford – The Arizona Republic
“Blood and Money”
----------------------

 

 

College categories

Best college/university campus website
(Category #66)
1^st place: Philadelphia Neighborhoods, Temple University- Journalism Department
“Philadelphia Neighborhoods”

Runner up: The Temple News
temple-news.com
----------------------

Best collaborative college/university & professional website
(Category #68)
1^st place: Gateway Journalism Review
“A citizen's guide to a U.S. Supreme Court losing legitimacy.”

 Judge’s comments: 

Rich history of court and past controversies provides much-needed context to the current court. Deeply reported, and interesting throughout.

Runner up: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, ASU and AZ Center for Investigative Reporting
“In the Sheriff We Trust”
----------------------


Best college/university-produced community or Niche Website
(Category #63)
1^st place: Carnegie-Knight News21
“America After Roe”

Judge’s comments: 

Runaway #1 in this contest category. The volume of reporting, storytelling and production that went into this digital package is astounding. This site explores the topic of America after the Roe vs. Wade decision being overturned from every angle. What a great teaching tool for these journalists who will be our country's future storytellers! Bravo to ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication!

 Excellent work showing impact of fall of Roe v. Wade. Graphics, videos, and stories are excellent. Readers should appreciate --and benefit from -- the commitment to staying with the story one year later.

 Runner up: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, ASU and AZ Center for Investigative Reporting
“In the Sheriff We Trust”
----------------------

 Best college/university sports section/website
(Category #70)
1^st place: Cronkite News/Arizona State University
“Cronkite Sports”

Runner up: The Temple News Sports section website
----------------------

Best college/university investigative/documentary
(Category #61)
1^st place: Carnegie-Knight News21
“America After Roe”

Judge’s comments: 

Lots of good videos in this series that is rich with great sourcing. However, it goes over maximum for contest entry. 

This is a deeply reported series of stories, exploring all sides of an intensely debated and emotional topic. It received expansive treatment from multiple locations, using many resources, and from multiple perspectives. The use of multiple mediums to best tell each component of the story was an integral part of the impact of the overall story about this important topical subject. It leaves me optimistic about the future of journalism and the education current students are getting.

Runner up: Grace Snell, Viking Fusion, Berry College 
“Georgia v Foster”
----------------------
 

Best video on a college/university website
(Category #62)
1^st place: S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
“Never stand still.”

Judge’s comments: 

An effective and touching look at how one person confronts a disease -- while at the same time providing important information to help others. While through the eyes of Jim Cooke, we get a bigger story of programs and determination to confront, deal and maintain life's value even when taking on a progressively debilitating condition.

Runner up: Carnegie-Knight News21
“America After Roe-One State's Battle”
----------------------
 

Best news story on a college/university website
(Category #64)
1^st place: Carnegie-Knight News21
“America After Roe”

Judge’s comments:

 Educational. Comprehensive. Multimedia. Well-written and photographed. Journalism doesn't get much better than this.

Runner up: NYCity News Service Staff
“Hard Lessons”
----------------------
 

Best photojournalism on a college/university website
(Category #65)
1^st place: Philadelphia Neighborhoods, Temple University- Journalism Department
“Philadelphia Neighborhoods: Life After Fleeing War.”

Runner up: Mark Banchereau, NYCity News Service
“Hard Lessons”
----------------------
 

Best feature story on a college/university website
(Category #67)
1^st place: Florida International University
“Guilty until proven innocent: The wrongful conviction of Thomas Raynard James”

Runner up: S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
“Colleges lack addiction resources for online sports gambling surge.”
----------------------