Local that Works is an annual contest that spotlights innovative and replicable content, engagement and revenue initiatives at public radio and TV stations, and nonprofit news organizations in the U.S.

Explore the LTW database of 350+ projects. Entries from the 2020 contest will be added to this database this fall.

Tips on using the database: If viewing this on a computer, all projects are listed in the left column. Click on a project name and its longer profile will appear in the right column. If viewing on mobile, clicking on a project name will load the full listing on your screen.

You can filter your results by selecting a tag or multiple tags in the categories drop down menu and clicking on search. If you want to change, broaden or narrow the results, make sure to uncheck categories for subsequent searches.

To see previous Local that Works contest winners, finalists and semi-finalists, click on green, purple or orange tags and our judges’ favorite projects will show up in the left column.

25 results found.

A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools (2019 Finalist)

Voice of San Diego

A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools is a free “consumer report” tool, distributed to 50,000 families to aid parents in making decisions about their childrens’ education. The Guide, produced in English and Spanish, provides an overview of every local public school’s performance in easy-to-read charts, with answers to basic questions about public school options. VOSD works UC San Diego to analyze the school performance data and with the San Diego Workforce Partnership to cover topics like vocational training. Read Current’s coverage of this project.

Citizens Journalism Workshop

Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism

The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, which runs IowaWatch.org, hosted a workshop in Iowa City in April 2019 to inform the public about behind-the-scenes practices used to tell a truthful news story. The workshop, “Creative Minds: Journalism Workshop Engaging Citizens In the News,” fostered two-way communication between participating newsroom journalists and 15 local residents. This was a pilot project to determine public interest in such a workshop and to see whether ICPAJ could pull it off. The answer to both was: yes.

Developing Local Podcasters for Public Radio

KCPK-LP, licensee Center of the World Festival, Inc.

KCPK-LP is conducting local podcast and broadcast training sessions to educate community members. This nonprofit media organization received its license for low power radio station and went on air in February, 2017. With the recent launch of a simulcast online radio stream, KCPK is now reaching beyond its 5 mile rural mountainous signal area to engage a larger “community” through self-directed training videos in podcasting and copyright laws.

Georgia News Lab

Georgia News Lab (partners with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WSB TV and Georgia Public Broadcasting)

The Georgia News Lab is an award-winning investigative reporting collaborative. It’s mission is to train the next generation of investigative reporters, make the vital work of watchdog journalism affordable for local news organizations and increase diversity in professional newsrooms. The News Lab is a partnership between the top college journalism programs in Georgia, including historically black colleges (HBCUs), along with the leading news outlets in the Southeast, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WSB-TV and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

In-Depth Reporting Series

The Highlands Current

Highlands Current Inc. is a nonprofit corporation begun in 2010 created to provide balanced reporting of news and events for the Hudson Valley communities of Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, N.Y. This special series took a deeper look at likely impact of climate change on the region, the challenges facing local farmers, “living on the edge” and the growing opioid crisis.

Inclusion X Project

BenitoLink.com

BenitoLink is a hyperlocal nonprofit news organization launched by two young Latino staff members with support from a local United Way grant. In 2018, BenitoLink expanded coverage of the local Latino community with funds from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm. In summer 2019, BenitoLink brought on five interns for graphic arts, copy writing, computer applications, and marketing. Our computer science intern was funded largely by the Emma Bowen Foundation.

Living on the Edge

The Highlands Current

Living on the Edge is a special, two-part feature series, published by the Highlands Current, focused on people and families living on “survival budgets” in the MidHudson Valley in New York. The series was inspired by the “ALICE Report” (asset-limited, income-restrained, employed), a United Way study that showed many people in thisregion cannot come up with $400 for an emergency expenses. The Highlands Current decided to try to put the story of real people behind those statistics.

Local Switchboard NYC

Local Switchboard NYC is a collective of women who produce multimedia content for and by the communities of New York City’s varied boroughs. Local journalists and community members are trained in audio production so they can cover their own neighborhoods and tell stories often overlooked and underreported by larger media organizations. This new initiative was piloted at WBAI-FM.

Matter Mobile

Matter News

Matter Mobile is a portable, pop-up studio taken to different community events to conduct high quality audio and video interviews about thorny issues like urban development. The collapsible studio is constructed of wood, soundproofing foam, and windows made out of acrylic sheets. This structure offers interviewees more privacy than recording vox pops openly in the field.