The Long Beach Post won two 2021 LION Publishers Local Journalism Awards today among independent online news organizations across the country for public service and investigative journalism.
“This is more national recognition for the journalism of the Long Beach Post since we started expanding our newsroom in 2018,” said publisher David Sommers. “This is the heart of local journalism: government accountability, holding powerful organizations to account. This is our goal at the Post, and to get recognition in these categories is powerful.”
The first award was the Public Service Award, for the Post’s multifaceted investigation into the conduct of the city’s police force, including a database that catalogued every police stop in 2019.
The Post also won Investigative Report of the Year for its data-driven investigation into LBPD, which showed Black drivers are stopped at a rate that is disproportionate to Long Beach’s population, and the city’s stymied Citizen Police Complaint Commission.
The Post competed in the medium/large publication category (organizations with six or more full-time equivalent staff members). The awards are open to independent digital media across the country. This year’s awards saw 30 judges evaluate more than 240 entries, according to LION Publishers.
These are the stories the Post submitted for consideration for the awards:
- Shattered promise of police oversight still haunts Long Beach 30 years later
- Statistics show LBPD seriously injures people at high rate, but police say database is flawed
- Elected officials count on police unions for financial support–can they still hold police accountable?
- Being Black means you’re more likely to be stopped, searched by Long Beach Police, new data shows
- Black riders disproportionately stopped for fare evasion on Long Beach public transit, data shows
Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a professional journalism association with more than 300 members across the U.S. and Canada.
Click here for a complete list of all the award finalists.