Editor’s note: City & State New York wins nine New York Press Association Awards

The City & State New York team took home nine awards in the 2025 New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. It is a source of great pride for our team to win first place awards in magazine design excellence, best magazine cover, graphic illustration/editorial cartoon and best personality profile. Our readers experience exceptional political journalism thanks to the hard work of our editorial and production teams.

In the past two years, City & State won five and four awards, so this year’s tremendous haul matched the past two years’ worth of wins. The last time City & State won nine awards was in 2022.

The awards were announced at the association’s spring conference in Saratoga Springs last week, with 150 publications submitting 2,732 total entries. The entries were judged by members of the Michigan Press Association.

Before we ask for a round of applause, here are the honors we received, the judges' comments, as well as links to the award-winning stories and magazines.

First Place, Magazine Design Excellence – City & State

• How New York went to the dogs
• The factions of Queens

What the judges said: “Nice variety that appears to place a priority on its audience.”

First Place, Best Magazine Cover – Andrew Horton and staff

• The Last Word – Adrienne Adams

What the judges said: “This is the strongest cover of all the entries. The use of black and white photography has greater power than the color covers. The other two covers are good but they don’t have the impact of the photo of Adrienne Adams. Excellent.”

First Place, Feature Story – Lifestyle, Human Interest or Personality Profile – Sophie Krichevsky

• Yes, Vickie Paladino is for real

What the judges said: “Powerful writing from start to finish. Incredibly compelling storytelling. Wonderful example of a personality profile for sure!”

First Place, Graphic Illustration/Editorial Cartoon – Alex Law and Andrew Horton

• Me, the people

What the judges said: “A skillful blend of the painting background with the digitally altered face. The overall resulting layout is striking and attractive.”

Second Place, Overall Magazine Excellence – City & State

• New Player, New Game – Elle Bisgaard-Church
• Now everyone knows his name – Zohran Mamdani

What the judges said: “This is a dynamic publication. Lots of energy and nice layout.”

Second Place, Feature Story – Lifestyle, Human Interest or Personality Profile – Holly Pretsky

• How Elle Bisgaard-Church became Zohran Mamdani’s most trusted adviser

What the judges said: “Spectacular piece. Impressed with how well it was reported and presented. Top-notch journalism on display here.”

Third Place, Local Government Story – Annie McDonough

• Behind ‘all-time high’ job growth in NYC, 17K government positions sit vacant

What the judges said: “Excellent use of data to make an important point about hiring and understaffing in municipal government.”

Third Place, Technology Story – Annie McDonough

• 2025 is the year New York political campaigns embrace AI

What the judges said: “Fun story that takes the reader inside political campaigns and the nuanced issues around the use of AI. Piece includes lots of voices and is well-told.”

Third Place, Graphic Illustration/Editorial Cartoon – Kathleen Fu

• The simplest method for becoming New York City Council speaker

What the judges said: “This is a busy, but cleanly organized layout. The bespoke illustrations clearly convey their meaning to the accompanying text point. It’s interesting to look at while absorbing the overall message.”