For the first time in our eight-year history, The Nevada Independent has been recognized with the Nevada Press Foundation's top organizational award.

The award for General Online Excellence — which “recognizes overall excellence of a news organization’s online presence” — was one of 16 awards won by The Indy this year, including eight first-place awards, during the foundation’s annual convention held Saturday in Fallon. 

The Indy won the best website award in 2017, but the award for general excellence in the urban daily category went to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that year. The award categories have shifted since then and don't include print general excellence for the largest organizations; the Review-Journal has won the General Online Excellence award for the past six years.

We’re also thrilled that The Indy’s founder and CEO, Jon Ralston, was inducted into the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame this weekend. It’s a huge (and overdue) honor for Jon, whose genius and 40-plus years of dogged work in the Silver State have made him THE face of Nevada news for the nation.

Here’s more from our Hall of Fame application:

It's impossible to tell the story of modern Nevada journalism without Jon Ralston. In the 40 years he's been covering and working in the Silver State, he's worn many hats — reporter, columnist/pundit, TV host and now founder and CEO of The Nevada Independent, an award-winning statewide nonprofit newsroom. What Jon has always been is relevant — uncovering and pursuing stories that affect political careers and hold the powerful accountable, vetting candidates for office on his television show with an intense interview style that separated the serious from the unserious, and serving as the unofficial dean of the Nevada press corps, a voice for national media outlets looking to understand the complexities and politics of the Silver State.

Awards are not why we do what we do. But they’re a welcome affirmation that we’re doing top-quality, ambitious journalism that is making a difference for our community.

A full list of awards and links to the stories are below, but we wanted to highlight a few, starting with Eric Neugeboren. He’s made a huge impact in the state since joining The Indy in 2023, and this year won first-place awards for Government Watchdog/Accountability Reporting and Freedom of the Press. He was also named this year’s Journalist of Merit, awarded to journalists in the first five years of their career.

Here’s what the judges had to say about Eric:

Eric Neugeboren's work has a solid foundation in facts, eschewing loaded adjectives and letting his data and research provide readers with more than enough information to make up their own minds about anything he reports on. His work is a model of solid investigative journalism that all young — and older — reporters should aspire to.

We’re also very proud to see Tabitha Mueller’s four-part series on mental health access in rural Nevada, “We’ve got to talk,” recognized in the Story of the Year and Health Reporting categories. We’re also very proud to take home first and second place in the Newsletter category (Amy Alonzo’s Indy Environment and Rocio Hernandez’s Indy Education, respectively), and the numerous awards won by Howard Stutz for his stories on cannabis lounges in Las Vegas and profile of an old-school Las Vegas casino owner.

First-place awards:

• Howard Stutz, Business Feature Story: Cannabis lounges provide a new lure for Las Vegas visitors
• Tabitha Mueller, Community Service: ‘We’re looking for a lifeline;’ Nevada’s only Native youth shelter at risk of closing
• Amy Alonzo, Email Newsletter: Indy Environment
• Eric Neugeboren, Government Watchdog/Accountability Reporting: Workers in NV child mental health program say manager bullied them 'with nobody to help’ // 'Untouchable’: NV state workers have few ways to hold managers accountable for misconduct
• Eric Neugeboren/Kelsey Penrose (Carson Now), Freedom of the Press: Analysis: Resolving open meeting law complaints can take years — and is taking longer
• Eric Neugeboren, Journalist of Merit
• Tabitha Mueller, Eric Neugoboren, Isabella Aldrete, Podcast of the Year: Focus on Carson

Other Awards:

• Rocio Hernandez, Second Place, Email Newsletter: Indy Education
• Howard Stutz, Second Place, Profile, and Third Place, Gaming/Tourism reporting: Old School: Gaughan’s throwback approach keeps South Point flourishing
• Tabitha Mueller, Third Place, Explanatory Journalism: Are pharmacy benefit managers to blame for high drug prices?
• Tabitha Mueller, Third Place, Story of the Year, and Third Place, Health Reporting: “We’ve got to talk” series on health care access in rural Nevada.
• Gabby Birenbaum and Eric Neugeboren, Third Place, Political/Election Enterprise Reporting: Anatomy of a red wave: How Trump won Nevada
• Tabitha Mueller, Third Place, Profile: ‘You have to grow into it:’ Joe Lombardo’s rise from beat cop to governor