Chicago Public Media journalists at WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times were honored on Apr. 28 with 12 National Headliner Awards for their coverage produced in 2025, tying for the most awards given to any news organization this year.
The recognition marks the highest number of National Headliner Awards ever received in a single year by staff members from both the Sun-Times and WBEZ. The awards highlight reporting that covers a wide range of topics, including investigative series, audio storytelling, visual journalism, and community-centered reporting. Stories addressed issues such as immigration enforcement actions, housing affordability challenges, and failures within the mental health system.
The National Headliner Awards competition is one of the oldest and largest journalism honors in the United States. Established more than 90 years ago, it recognizes excellence across newspaper, radio, magazines, photography, television and digital media.
Among first-place honors was local news beat coverage or continuing story in a top 20 media market for three “Chicago under ICE” stories that followed U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino’s direction of Operation Midway Blitz. Staff members Dan Mihalopoulos, Lauren FitzPatrick, Chip Mitchell, Tom Schuba, Sophie Sherry and Frank Main contributed to these stories. Other first-place awards included social media outreach for “Chicago under ICE,” a radio news series called “Who Owns Chicago?” about housing affordability reported by Amy Qin, Esther Yoon-Ji Kang and Andjela Padejski; as well as spot news photography for Ashlee Rezin’s photo “Recoil,” which captured an incident involving pepper spray outside ICE’s Bridgeview processing facility.
Second-place recognitions included a news series investigating attacks around downtown Chicago linked to failures by mental health systems and courts by Stephanie Zimmermann and Frank Main; along with an individual photo portfolio award for Ashlee Rezin’s work. Third-place awards covered environmental writing on lead exposure in water-service lines affecting Latino and Black neighborhoods; narrative podcasting; journalistic innovation; digital presentation projects focused on environmental experiences; single-day photo stories documenting ICE activity; and education writing about graduation rates amid rising absenteeism.
This year’s achievements reflect continued efforts by Chicago Public Media journalists to provide comprehensive reporting on pressing local issues.
