Fall 2024 grantees gather awards at annual Alaska Press Club conference

The Alaska Press Club celebrated and recognized excellent reporting by Alaska journalists at its annual awards banquet on Saturday, April 18, 2026 in Anchorage. Awards were given in a wide range of categories for 2025 reporting projects across the state.

Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism Fund grantees received seven awards. The reporting represented all five published projects from the Fall 2024 grant opening, in both the Impact Reporting and Alaska Arts Reporting grant initiatives.

Alaska Impact Reporting Grants

• Vern McCorkle Award for Best Business Reporting - All Media - First Place
  “In Canada’s ‘Silicon Valley’ of mining, speculators power a hunt for Alaska’s Minerals” - Max Graham for Inside Climate News and Northern Journal

• Best Series - All Media - First Place

  “What a Relief” - Ashlyn O’Hara, KDLL

• Best Narrative Audio Program - Audio - First Place

  “Outburst” - Alix Soliman and Clarise Larson, KTOO

• Best Environmental Reporting - Print - Second Place

  “Inside one of Alaska’s National Parks, a fight looms over a possible gold mine” - Max Graham for Inside Climate News and Northern Journal

Alaska Arts Reporting Initiative

• Best Arts Reporting - Print - First Place

  “Triennial exhibit at the Anchorage Museum portrays Alaska through its artists’ eyes” - Victoria Barber for Anchorage Daily News

• Best Multimedia Presentation - All Media - Second Place

  “Zoom Room #51 - Grace C. Elliot” - Alaska Teen Media Institute (Indigo Schlee, Rhys James, Emmanuel Laron, Xander Rose, Vermillion Reed, Michael Hunter, Logan Ehrhart)

• Best Interview or Call-in Audio Program - Audio - Third Place

  “Zoom Room” - Alaska Teen Media Institute

ACEJ Fund Adviser Elizabeth Arnold was also recognized by the Alaska Press Club board of directors with the Howard Rock/Tom Snapp First Amendment Award for her years spent teaching Alaska journalists ethics, the law, and reporting skills.

Also of note, KYUK’s public radio newsroom in Bethel, Alaska won the Public Service Award for its exhaustive reporting in the aftermath of Typhoon Halong. The station was recently named a recipient of an ACEJ Public Media News Preservation Grant, announced a day before the awards.

The Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism Fund at the Alaska Community Foundation supports the Alaska Press Club’s annual conference and other professional development work with grant funding from the Atwood Foundation and other supporters.