The Objective wins its first INN Award!

The Objective won its first Institute for Nonprofit News Award, for an investigation reported by Alexis Allison covering a New York City newspaper editor’s years-long bullying. 

The award, given in the Breaking Barriers (Micro Division) category, recognizes a story that “honors reporting that brought new understanding to an issue or topic affecting people or communities that are historically underrepresented, disadvantaged or marginalized, resulting in impactful change.” 

Allison’s story was reported over two years and chronicled the experiences of nine employees — mostly women — who experienced bullying by a top editor across a spate of hyperlocal New York newsrooms owned by Herald Community Newspapers. Despite seven years of reports to HR by our sources and others, editor Michael Hinman continued to be promoted. 

After Allison’s investigation was published, Hinman was suspended and subsequently departed from the publication. 

“Fantastic reporting on an often underreported issue,” a judge for the entry wrote. “Bravo for getting the reporters to feel comfortable enough to share their stories with you and go on the record. Fantastic impact. Well done!”

The micro division awards newsrooms “exceeding expectations for their size.” These were The Objective’s second INN Awards finalist placements. The newsroom’s staff was previously chosen as a finalist for the Community Champion (Small Newsroom) award in 2022, for “our significant contribution to the well-being of [the] community.” 

The Objective was founded as a volunteer-run newsroom in 2020, with its co-directors going part-time beginning in summer 2024, one month after this story was published. Despite initially running a volunteer newsroom, The Objective has always sought to pay its writers — Allison included. 

Her story is one of many commissioned by The Objective after writers failed to find the support needed to publish at other newsrooms. It’s part of the newsroom’s track record of holding up a mirror to power dynamics impacting journalists in newsrooms, from covering newsrooms parting ways with bad bosses to retaliation against journalists supporting Palestinian human rights.

Allison’s story was also a finalist in the Best Investigative Journalism category. A judge for the category called it “a meticulous, sensitively reported piece of journalism that rooted out a bad actor in a profession where bad actors are too often tolerated or even celebrated.” 

The story was edited by The Objective’s co-director, Gabe Schneider, and fact-checked by Siri Chilukuri, a journalist who has frequently worked with The Objective. Legal review was provided by Lawyers for Reporters, a Vance Center initiative that provides pro bono legal assistance to local and mission-driven journalism organizations in the United States.

Alexis Allison is a journalist, teacher, and a current law student at The University of Texas. 

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For more information about The Objective and its work, contact us at contact@objectivejournalism.org. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive independent journalism straight to your inbox.

James Salanga is the co-director of The Objective and the podcast producer for The Sick Times.