The Coronado News has been named a finalist in LION Publishers’ 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards for Public Service and Outstanding Coverage for its investigative series on the Tijuana sewage crisis.
The LION Awards recognize excellence by local independent online news businesses in award categories focused on LION’s pillars of sustainability –– journalistic impact, financial health, and operational resilience.
The Public Service Award recognizes general excellence in journalistic impact that successfully connects people with the information and services they need to navigate their lives and help make their communities more inclusive and equitable.
The Outstanding Coverage Award recognizes a LION member that achieved general excellence in journalistic impact by building increased awareness or influencing public conversation about a specific issue that has reverberated throughout a community.
The Coronado News was selected for its reporting on a century-old sewage issue and health crisis affecting Tijuana, Imperial Beach and Coronado.
The reporting has resulted in these communities working together, along with other public officials, to try to get the attention of the White House to expedite funding and finally fix a problem that has existed since the Great Depression.
Judges noted the reporting has already gotten the attention of local and federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, who traveled to the international wastewater treatment plant in June to address the trans-border water pollution taking place.
Most recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom urged President Joe Biden and Congress to immediately release $300 million to renovate and expand a sewage treatment plant on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Pulitzer Prize winner Dennis Wagner, who most recently worked at USA TODAY, teamed with Craig Harris, Julieta Soto and Madeline Yang on the five-part investigative series for The Coronado News.
The 2023 LION Awards received nearly 300 entries in 10 distinct award categories and 99 entries have been recognized as finalists.
Winners will be announced during the LION Awards Ceremony and Dinner on Oct. 3, in Durham, North Carolina.
LION will distribute at least $55,000 in cash prizes to award winners, with each winning entry receiving at least $1,000.
The investigative series can be read at https://thecoronadonews.com/category/news/investigations/.
