Documented was selected as a finalist in three categories in the Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION) awards and one category for the Online Journalism Awards for the organization’s work on WhatsApp and covering the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, Documented began distributing a newsletter in Spanish via WhatsApp named Documented Semanal. Many of the subscribers to the newsletter are undocumented Spanish speakers in New York City. This year, in response to the pandemic, Documented began creating resources to help the community that has formed around the WhatsApp newsletter more easily find critical aid, such as food or rental relief. Now all the Spanish articles published on our site are in response to questions from our WhatsApp community.
In recognition of this work, Documented is a finalist for the LION Awards for Best Coverage of Underserved Communities and Technology Innovation of the Year, along with the Online Journalism Award Gather Award in Engaged Journalism.
Documented was also nominated for the LION Award for Best Coronavirus Coverage by a solo newsroom. This was for our work creating resources guides to help immigrants navigate the pandemic as well as our reporting on the Justice Department’s insistence on keeping the immigration courts open, conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails and ICE’s continued arrests of teenage immigrants from shelters in the New York area.
You can read more about Documented’s approach to journalism in this Medium post by Audience Editor Nicolás Ríos.
Support the work of Documented
Documented was founded with the goal of making sure the people affected by our stories were also the people reading them. Immigration reporting is often extractive and isn’t produced or published with the main protagonists as the intended audience. Through our reporting and out outreach via WhatsApp, we’ve created award-winning journalism that is created with and for New York’s immigrant communities. This work is not easy and it is not cheap. Consider becoming a member today to help fuel this work. By joining the Documented Community, you can not help only provide us with the financial freedom needed to fulfill our mission but also meet others who are passionate about immigration in the New York area. Become a member today.