Awards season continues with a pair of big honours for The Local at the Digital Publishing Awards yesterday.

Our “Vaccinating Toronto” issue won the gold medal for Best News Coverage (Community Publication). The award recognizes the work of the entire team of writers, photographers, illustrators and editors that tracked Toronto’s vaccine rollout.

And, for the second year in a row, The Local took home the big prize—the gold medal for General Excellence in Digital Publishing (Small Publication). “The Local shone both in terms of the way it executed its clear editorial mandate as well as the elegant design of the website,” the judges wrote. “The Local takes a critical approach that is refreshing and relatable as a reader. Smart, incisive, and easy to navigate, it is a welcome addition to the Toronto media scene.”

“It’s an incredible honour to win this award two years in a row,” said editor-in-chief Tai Huynh. “I’m proud of what our small but mighty team was able to accomplish with this year—digging into crucial issues in our communities and flagging rampant inequalities playing out in real time.”

“I’m thrilled that we were awarded prizes in these categories, which honour the contributions of the entire team,” said Senior Editor Nicholas Hune-Brown. “We’re lucky to work with brilliant freelance writers, photographers, and illustrators. From Fatima Syed’s reporting from Peel, to Kelly Boutsalis’s work helming our Indigenous Issue, to the reporting of our Local Fellows, it’s the work of our contributors that makes The Local what it is.”