Editor & Publisher magazine has awarded Raw Story a 2023 EPPY Award as the "best news / political blog" among all news sites with 1 million or more unique monthly visitors.
Raw Story was judged on its "overall content regarding news and politics — with focus on analysis and insight as well as wit and wisdom" as well as a submitted portfolio of published articles.
"Being acknowledged alongside some of the nation's most respected news outlets is a privilege," Raw Story Publisher Roxanne Cooper said. "I'm especially proud in the investigative projects we've undertaken in the past year — all made possible by the steadfast support of our loyal subscribers."
Among the articles included in Raw Story's entry portfolio:
- An investigation by Editor-in-Chief Dave Levinthal and congressional correspondent Matt Laslo into failures by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics to issue a single formal punishment in 16 years, despite fielding 1,523 complaints and launching 204 preliminary inquiries into alleged misdeeds among senators and Senate staffers.
- A damning, deeply reported column by Donnell Alexander on the "deafening silence" by U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville's former football players amid his public embrace of white nationalists.
- An exposé by investigative reporter Jordan Green about how the federal government had quietly banned a violent January 6 attack participant from Tennessee nuclear power facilities where he worked but hadn't charged or arrested him despite "bevy of evidence that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol in a manner that’s resulted in charges against hundreds of other rioters." Less than three months after Green's story published, the FBI arrested the man, William Beals, and charged him with several counts related to his participation in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
- A first-person narrative from Levinthal — based on numerous internal records obtained through the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act and extensive interviews — about how storied military college The Citadel "camouflaged its connection to Rudy Giuliani" and deflected attention from its refusal to rescind an honorary degree it awarded the legally and ethically troubled former New York City mayor and Donald Trump lawyer.
Other 2023 EPPY Award winners include NBC News, USA Today, ProPublica, the Boston Globe and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
This is the third major award Raw Story has won in 2023 for its journalism.
In June, Green received a 2023 Folio Award from the Fair Media Council for his reporting on extremism in the aftermath of the January 6 attack.
In October, investigative reporter Alexandria Jacobson won first prize in the 2023 ION Awards contest for her series of exclusive reports about members of Congress violating a federal law designed to stop insider trading, curb financial conflicts of interest and enhance public transparency.
This is also Raw Story's second EPPY Award during its 19-year history, having earned honors in 2022 for a gripping, tell-all column, "How I left the far right," by Dakota Adams, the son of former Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes.
Founded in 2004, Raw Story is America’s largest independently-owned political news site.
Long known for its rapid-fire breaking news reports and commentary, Raw Story has this year significantly expanded its investigative and original reporting team. Hires this year include Levinthal, Executive Editor Adam Nichols, Assistant Managing Editor Kathleen Culliton, Night Editor David McAfee, investigative reporters Jacobson and Mark Alesia and news writer M.L. Nestel.
