The following article appeared in the September 12, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
đ Ledger wins national award for âtransformational impactâ in local news
The Charlotte Ledger won a national award last week, from a trade association we belong to that supports independent local news publishers across the U.S. and Canada.
LION Publishers, which has 575+ members, selected The Ledger for its Transformational Impact Award, which recognizes a member that has âachieved a transformational impact for its organization through dedication to improving operational resilience, financial health and/or journalistic impactâ â and whose âgrowth has also had a positive effect on the communities they serve and the independent news ecosystem.â
Our team picked up the award last week at a conference in St. Louis:
Ledger assistant editor Lindsey Banks (left), executive editor Tony Mecia and business development director Ava Mikeal picked up the âTransformational Impactâ hardware last week at the LION Publishers conference in St. Louis. In our free time, we also took a small elevator to the top of the cityâs Gateway Arch, despite one of us being âslightly claustrophobic.â
We are, of course, honored and humbled (as we no doubt will soon express in a self-congratulatory LinkedIn post). As any small business owner will tell you, building a business is hard work. Thatâs especially true in local media, which is highly competitive and beset with technological change and shifting audience preferences. There are challenges alongside successes.
But itâs also rewarding â and important for our community. In six years, weâve built a financially healthy business centered on smart and responsible local journalism, not on clickbait or sensationalism. We hope other people, in other cities, can follow our example to reinvigorate local news in their communities.
And weâve continued to grow, thanks to many people, including readers, subscribers, sponsors, business partners, tipsters and especially our strong team, which consists of a talented lineup of freelancers and core staff. (This month, weâre adding a fourth full-timer to help elevate our journalism â more on that soon.)
Weâre proud of the job weâve done, and weâve got more to do. Thanks for supporting the vision and the work. âTony Mecia
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