Sallie Maranda Fiske (1928-2004) was a pioneering television journalist and a lesbian activist in California. She was among the first women to work in broadcast journalism in Los Angeles. In 1977, during Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign, she disclosed her sexuality on...
Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced the recipients of its 2026 Excellence in Journalism Awards, recognizing exemplary reporting produced in 2025. Lydia Polgreen was named the Journalist of the Year. The Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for the LGBTQ+ Journalist of the Year was awarded to Evan Urquhart. Rachel Ward, Mark Kelley, Grant LaFleche, Matthew Pierce, Ryan Ferguson and Jonathan Castell were awarded the Al Neuharth Award for Innovation in Investigative Journalism for their work on “The Fifth Estate: The Shadow War on Libraries.”
Gio Benitez is the recipient of the 2026 Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ+ Coverage. Benitez is co-anchor of “Good Morning America” on Saturday and Sunday and transportation correspondent for ABC News, based in New York. He covers aviation, space, railroads and the auto...
Stefanie Loh is the 2025 recipient of the Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Loh began her career covering college football for media organizations in West Virginia at The Dominion Post, in Pennsylvania at The Patriot-News and in California at the...
Georgia Voice is the 2025 winner of the NLGJA Legacy Award. The outlet is the media outlet of record for the LGBTQ community in Atlanta and throughout the state. With a monthly print edition and a 24/7 updated website, Georgia Voice has proven to be indispensable to...
Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced that Missy Spears, Executive Director of Queer Kentucky, is the recipient of the 2025 Jeanne Córdova Award.
Jahna Berry, winner of the 2025 NLGJA Leadership Award, is a media executive, an expert on leadership, management, nonprofits, and diversity in the workplace, as well as Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Investigative Reporting, which was named a Pulitzer...
Lyra McKee (1990–2019) was a fearless investigative journalist and author from Belfast whose work gave voice to a new generation of queer writers. She contributed to outlets including BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, Mosaic Science, Private Eye, and the Belfast Telegraph. Her...
Mark S. King has been writing candidly about HIV and queer life since testing positive for HIV in 1985. His widely acclaimed blog, My Fabulous Disease, has received numerous awards from NLGJA, including being named the 2020 LGBTQ Journalist of the Year. A gifted...
Charles M. Blow is an accomplished author, journalist, cultural critic, and political commentator. He is the inaugural Langston Hughes Fellow at Harvard University. Mr. Blow previously served as a longtime Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and was a political...