Awards season continues, and The Local continues to collect national recognition for our journalism.

This week, the Digital Publishing Awards (DPAs) announced its finalists, and The Local earned five nominations, including the prize for General Excellence (Small Publication)—an award we’re proud to have won four of the past five years.

Two days later, The Local earned five nominations for the prestigious National Magazine Awards (NMAs). Executive Editor Nicholas Hune-Brown led all writers across the country with nominations for three different stories. The winners of the DPAs and NMAs will be announced at separate ceremonies in Toronto on June 5.

Together with our four nominations for the CAJ Awards last week, the nominations place The Local’s work among the very best in Canadian publishing, alongside established outlets like The Walrus, CBC, Toronto Life, and Maclean’s.

“We’re honoured to be recognized next to the biggest names in Canadian journalism,” said Editor-in-Chief Tai Huynh. “The 14 national nominations received for our work in 2025 are proof that non-profit journalism works, allowing our newsroom to chase incredible stories rather than easy clicks.”

“The Local publishes some of the best journalism anywhere,” said Hune-Brown. “I’m so thrilled to see the work of my colleagues recognized on the national stage, and honoured to have the stories we worked on together nominated.”

Here are the nominations:

Digital Publishing Awards:

How Ontario Sleepwalked into a Crisis in Higher Education

Nominated for Best Feature Article
By Kunal Chaudhary
After years of funding, the province’s colleges and universities are now in financial free fall—slashing staff, cutting programs, and shuttering campuses. Kunal Chaudhary tells readers how we got here.

Bird Flu Comes For Toronto’s Wildlife

Nominated for Best Science and Technology Writing
By Wency Leung
Last year saw countless articles about bird flu’s potential to spark the next pandemic. The Local’s Wency Lenug asked a different question: what was it already doing to the city’s wildlife?

Breakdown at the Racetrack

Nominated for Best Feature Article: Long
By Nicholas Hune-Brown
Once a lucrative gambling business, Ontario’s horse racing industry is now heavily subsidized by the government. As gamblers turn to online gaming, and ideas about animal welfare shift, Nicholas Hune-Brown investigated a cluster of fatal horse injuries at Woodbine last year that raise questions about the future of the sport.

Wild Wild City

Nominated for Best Editorial Package
Contributors: Inori Roy, writer and editor; Nicholas Hune-Brown, writer and editor; Chloë Ellingson, photographer and editor; Galit Rodan, photographer; Sarah Liss, writer; Duane Cole, photographer; Wency Leung, writer and editor; Leah Borts-Kuperman, writer; Brendan George Ko, photographer; Alexandra Kimball, writer; Andrew Budziak, photographer; Tai Huynh, editor
In different corners of Toronto, human and animal worlds are colliding in unexpected ways. From divisive fights over cormorants and coyotes, to the rise and fall of niche industries, to the sudden explosion in the bunny population, our Wild Wild City issue explored our shifting relationship with the creatures among us.

The Local

General Excellence in Digital Publishing (small publication category)

National Magazine Awards:

Breakdown at the Racetrack

Nominated for Long-Form Feature Writing: 6000+
By Nicholas Hune-Brown
Once a lucrative gambling business, Ontario’s horse racing industry is now heavily subsidized by the government. As gamblers turn to online gaming, and ideas about animal welfare shift, Nicholas Hune-Brown investigated a cluster of fatal horse injuries at Woodbine last year that raise questions about the future of the sport.

The Worm Hunters of Southern Ontario

Nominated for Long-Form Feature Writing
By Inori Roy
Features Editor Inori Roy spent the night picking worms in a field in southern Ontario—a corner of the province that supplies nearly all the bait worms sold in North America. Her story is about worms and the people who pick them, the changing role of immigrant labour in the province, and the future of this industry in the face of the climate crisis.

After the International Student Gold Rush

Nominated for Feature Writing
By Nicholas Hune-Brown
In the midst of heated debate about the immigration system last winter, Executive Editor Nicholas Hune-Brown spent time with a group of international students who had maintained a 24/7 encampment in protest next to a highway in Brampton, Ont. The story of these students in the suburbs of Toronto was one of the missing pieces in the national immigration policy discussion.

Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era

Nominated for Investigative Reporting
By Nicholas Hune-Brown
After receiving a suspicious pitch, The Local’s Nicholas Hune-Brown uncovered a freelance writer publishing fake stories in prominent publications around the world. The story of “Victoria Goldiee” hit a nerve at a moment when the media industry is struggling and AI makes it increasingly difficult to know what’s real and what isn’t.

Wild Wild City

Nominated for Best Editorial Package
Contributors: Inori Roy, writer and editor; Nicholas Hune-Brown, writer and editor; Chloë Ellingson, photographer and editor; Galit Rodan, photographer; Sarah Liss, writer; Duane Cole, photographer; Wency Leung, writer and editor; Leah Borts-Kuperman, writer; Brendan George Ko, photographer; Alexandra Kimball, writer; Andrew Budziak, photographer; Tai Huynh, editor
In different corners of Toronto, human and animal worlds are colliding in unexpected ways. From divisive fights over cormorants and coyotes, to the rise and fall of niche industries, to the sudden explosion in the bunny population, our Wild Wild City issue explored our shifting relationship with the creatures among us.