Since 2019, Santa Cruz Local has produced in-depth local journalism about Santa Cruz County’s biggest issues. We tune our reporting to residents’ questions and priorities. Our news helps residents get informed and engaged. We are supported mostly by local donations.

Santa Cruz Local has won several national awards for our journalism and business practices.

Santa Cruz Local’s Natalya Dreszer and Kara Meyberg Guzman accepted two Local Independent Online News Publishers Awards in 2023. (Eleazar Yisrael, Jeyhoun Allebaugh — Inspired Storytellers)

2023

For the second year in a row, Santa Cruz Local won the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers Business of the Year Award for our operational resilience, financial health and journalistic impact.

  • From the judges: “Santa Cruz Local has truly excelled in its mission to bring attention to often-overlooked issues in a region characterized by affluence. By offering essential news coverage to underserved communities within the area, the organization has made an exceptional impact.”

For the third consecutive year, Santa Cruz Local won the Local Independent Online News Publishers Operational Resilience Award for our policies and company culture designed to support staff and manage growth to prevent burnout.

  • From the judges: “Santa Cruz Local has developed strong hiring processes, which start well before job openings are announced. Their thoughtfulness in aligning required competencies, designing inclusive job descriptions, and evaluating candidates using a structured rubric is best-in-class. They have also deeply invested in their work to serve the Spanish-speaking community.”

Santa Cruz Local won the The Next Challenge for Media and Journalism Future of News Award for our pioneering approach to news reporting. See a video of the award presentation.

  • From the judges: “I’m impressed with their community-focused journalism and the clarity it brings to important issues to locals by locals. The content it is providing isn’t one-dimensional. It’s really attempting to cover the community in comprehensive and relevant ways.”

Santa Cruz Local was a finalist for the Local Independent Online News Publishers Community Engagement Award for our strategy and system to place community listening at the heart of our newsroom.

2022

Santa Cruz Local won three major national awards at the Local Independent Online News Publishers Summit in Austin, Texas:

  • LION Business of the Year: General excellence in working to achieve sustainability for our news business through operational resilience, financial health and journalistic impact.
  • Outstanding Coverage Award: Santa Cruz Local’s Solutions to Homelessness series won for excellence in journalistic impact that builds increased awareness or influences public conversation about an issue that reverberates throughout our community.
  • General Excellence, Operational Resilience: Excellence at establishing processes, policies and a company culture designed to support staff and manage growth to prevent burnout.

Santa Cruz Local was a finalist for Local Independent Online News Publishers Community Engagement Award for our community listening strategy for our reporting on homelessness and elections.

Santa Cruz Local CEO/Co-founder Kara Meyberg Guzman accepted three awards at the Local Independent Online News Publishers Summit in 2022 in Austin, Texas.

2021

Santa Cruz Local won the Local Independent Online News Publishers Award for General Excellence: Operational Resilience for our work to reduce staff burnout.

  • From the judges: “By taking the time to stop and deeply analyze what it does, why that matters and what it takes for the team to sustainably keep doing it, Santa Cruz Local shored up its operational resilience, aligned the team, reduced burnout and clarified its focus. By taking it a step further and setting clear goals and structures around that work, it ensured that this was much more than a thought exercise and directly benefited both team health and the bottom line. By taking it an additional step further and publishing their efforts, they held themselves accountable and modeled their values to their readers. This idea is practical, strategic and replicable, and every news business would benefit from doing it.”

Santa Cruz Local CEO and Co-founder Kara Meyberg Guzman won the Local Independent Online News Publishers Member of the Year Award for her entrepreneurial spirit and volunteerism.

“She’s building a news organization in a very competitive place, up against entrenched competition as well as much better-funded new efforts, and she’s still there,” said LION Executive Director Chris Krewson in an online awards ceremony in 2021.

Kara speaks on journalism entrepreneurship panels, volunteers as a board member for the Tiny News Collective and “every day still serves as a news source in her community for people whose stories aren’t otherwise told,” Krewson said.