OBSERVER Newsroom
NASHVILLE — The Sacramento OBSERVER was recognized in grand fashion by winning 16 journalism awards — including the John B. Russwurm Award as America’s best Black newspaper — during the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) annual convention June 29.
The 2023 Messenger Awards ceremony, which is organized by the NNPA Fund, judges hundreds of entries from the nation’s top Black newspapers in areas such as journalism excellence, community service and digital impact. This is the seventh time The OBSERVER has won the coveted Russwurm Award.
OBSERVER Publisher Larry Lee was in attendance at the awards ceremony, and thanked The OBSERVER staff for its impactful work during the event.
“I’m so thankful for our team,” Lee said. “Winning awards such as these isn’t possible without a great team, and I will put our team up against any other newsroom in the nation.”
In addition to the Russwurm Award, The OBSERVER took home four first-place awards (Newspaper Excellence, Video Campaign, Special Edition, and Website Excellence), seven second-place awards (Entertainment; Instagram Campaign; Business; Health; Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle; Layout & Design; and Editorial & Opinion) and three third-place awards (Environment, Facebook Campaign and Community Service). Of note, The OBSERVER won an award in every digital category.
Lee was also saluted by his fellow publishers by being named Publisher of the Year — an award that moved him to tears.
“Being honored by your peers is very special, because I know what you all go through,” he told the hundreds in attendance.
The NNPA awards comes on the heels of The OBSERVER also being named the third best weekly newspaper in the entire state of California by the California Newspaper Publishers Association last month.