Carolina Public Press has won at least 14 awards in the 2026 North Carolina Press Association annual newspaper contest.
This year’s awards so far include three 1st-place honors, nine 2nd-place awards and two for 3rd place. Additional special awards may be announced at the Sept. 10 NC Press Association awards banquet in Cary.
CPP Executive Director Frank Taylor said he couldn’t be more pleased with his team’s strong performance. “While our work is about serving the people of North Carolina, not winning awards, we appreciate the recognition from our peers that these awards represent,” Taylor said.
“While we hope to add some special awards when those are announced in a few months, seeing yet another year of strong awards shows the consistent quality of our work.”
Competing in the online-only division, CPP swept the awards for special sections with 1st place for the Stray Cops project page from March 2026, 2nd place for the Civics Unlearned project page from August 2025 and 3rd place for the Trapped by Tiers project page from October 2025.
CPP also dominated the illustration category with 1st place for Mariano Santillan’s project illustration for Stray Cops and 2nd place for Brittain Peck’s project illustration for Trapped by Tiers.
The news team had a strong showing with a range of awards for reporting, headlines and photography.
Kate Denning took 1st place in Faith and Religion Reporting for her March 2026 article about teaching about religion in public school social studies classes.
Sarah Michels took 2nd place for General Reporting for her August 2025 coverage of the legislature’s work on a massive election reform bill. She also won 2nd place for crafting effective “ledes,” the introductory sections of articles that help determine whether anyone is actually going to read the rest of it.
Lucas Thomae took 2nd place in News Feature Writing for his May 2025 article, All roads lead to Raleigh, explaining the state’s uniquely centralized decision-making process for building roads.
Jane Winik Sartwell took 2nd place in Feature Photography for her photos of difficult economic conditions in Columbus County. She also took 3rd place for Business Reporting for an article on how the end of federal funding would affect public TV and radio outlets in North Carolina.
Taylor, who is also CPP’s acting editor, took 2nd place for Headline Writing. He also took 2nd place for Spot Photography for his images of flooding and storm damage in Orange County during Tropical Depression Chantal in July 2025.
The entire CPP news team shared a 2nd-place award for Breaking News Coverage for their work on Chantal.
The 2026 contest included work produced between April 2025 and March 2026.
An independent nonprofit organization providing statewide in-depth and investigative news coverage of issues that affect the lives of people across North Carolina, CPP is 15 years old this year.
CPP was initially based in Asheville and focused exclusively on Western North Carolina issues. In 2018, the organization officially broadened its coverage to the entire state. In 2023, its headquarters moved to Durham before settling in Raleigh in 2025. Even so, CPP has a fully remote model with staff spread across the state, supplemented by the work of freelance reporters, photographers and graphic artists who are also located in various parts of the state.
CPP is a 501(c)3 charitable organization supported by donors and grantors, in addition to opportunities for sponsorships and advertising.
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