Bridge Michigan wins News Media Publication of Year, sweeps public service awards

Bridge Michigan wins top honors for public service for reporting on aging, whitefish and opioids
Its environment reporter, Kelly House, is runner-up Journalist of the Year
BridgeDetroit wins for public service, digital presentation and justice reporting

Bridge Michigan was named News Media Publication of the Year on Thursday by the Michigan Press Association and swept its top honor, winning all three statewide public service awards.

In all, Bridge Michigan won 34 awards at the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest, and its senior environment reporter, Kelly House, was runner-up for the Richard Milliman Journalist of the Year award for her reporting on the collapse of whitefish in the lower Great Lakes.

Bridge won four statewide first-place awards and nine first-place awards among digital publications.

Among the honors in open categories where statewide publications are eligible:

Public service

First: Crush of retirees a crisis in Michigan. State unprepared to meet their needs, Robin Erb and Ron French

Second: Whitefish in crisis, Kelly House

Third: As opioid deaths mount, Michigan governments sit on millions, French and Erb

Best writing

First: The ‘day of death’: How spate of ODs changed Kalamazoo, Erb

Third: Fentanyl came to a tiny UP town. Then the funerals began, French

Best coverage of Second Amendment issues

First: Coverage of red flag laws, proposed bump stock ban and plans to shoot deer, Jordyn Hermani and Laura Herberg

Other honors

First-place honors in Bridge’s category of News Media-Statewide, which includes digital-only publications that cover all of Michigan, are:

News enterprise: The day of death, Erb
Feature: Search for Bigfoot finds political common ground, French
Environment reporting: Mining rush brings hope, dread to Upper Peninsula, House
Justice reporting: Trump cuts hit Michigan violence prevention programs, Lauren Gibbons
Publication design: Mining rush brings hope, dread to Upper Peninsula, staff
Pages design: Bridgemi.com, staff
Feature photo: Mail boat on the Detroit River, Josh Boland
Sports writing: Millions of walleye head to Detroit River, Herberg
Video presentation: Tracking Whitmer’s promises, Asha Lewis, Gibbons

House was runner-up to PlanetDetroit’s Brian Allnutt, and her recognition came one week after she was honored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her reporting on whitefish.

House was named the MPA’s Journalist of the Year in 2023 for reporting on PFAS. Since 2020, Bridge Michigan reporters have won the award four times. In all, five current and former staffers have won the award since 2016.

BridgeDetroit, the sister publication of BridgeDetroit, also won several awards, including top honors for public service among local publications for a collection of reporter Jena Brooker’s stories and community impact for its coverage and reader engagement of last year’s mayoral election.
BridgeDetroit received first-place honors in its category for digital presentation and justice reporting for a story about fines for auto theft victims by Kayleigh Lickliter.