“With four nominations this year, we’re one of the standout papers nationally.”

Dear Reader,

I try to not bombard you with constant insider stuff about the media and journalism space, other than to remind people that we need their support (and the support of advertisers, etc.) in order to keep up this work. But once a year I typically have the great luck of getting to inform Dig readers of awards that our media makers brought home from our national trade group, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, or AAN. We’re a relatively small paper compared to many of the more than 80 alts like us across the country, and to say we jab about our weight class is an understatement. With four nominations this year, we’re one of the standout papers nationally. And now on to the winners …

First, congratulations to Tadhg Larabee on an honorable mention in the Health Care Reporting category. His nominated feature, “Boston’s Murky World of Open-Source COVID-19 Vaccine Research,” was extremely unique and well-researched; in a year in which almost every submission in every category was basically a healthcare story of some kind, this was an especially significant win.

Next up, major props to Grace Symes, who like Tadhg was also an intern while they were producing what would later be recognized as award-winning reporting. In a year when immigration coverage fell by the wayside for many outlets as resources shifted to covering COVID, Grace placed second in the Immigration Coverage category for the March 2020 piece, “Coronavirus Leaves International Students Uncertain About Future.”

In the extremely competitive Investigative Reporting category (named for Washington City Paper alum David Carr, who went on to become an iconic champion of independent media, even as he wrote for bigs like the New York Times before passing in 2015), Dig contributor Dan Atkinson placed second for his deep dives on COVID state contractor chicanery. And that was only the beginning—wait until next year’s judges see the new stuff we are working on that front.

And finally, the big win of the evening went to Cagen Luse, who took the mighty first-place prize in the Cartoon category for his outstanding Lunchtime Comix/The New Normal series. You can support Cagen’s work at patreon.com/LunchTimeComix and check out his events at facebook.com/ComicsInColor. At this rate, you’ll likely see his comics in more newspapers across the country soon.

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF