TownLift wins its first awards for local reporting, competing among Utah’s largest newsrooms

TownLift reporter Marina Knight with her two first-place awards from the 2026 Utah Society of Professional Journalists contest, for reporting on housing and on veterans affairs. Photo: TownLift

After five years, TownLift entered the state journalism contest for the first time and placed first in two Division A categories, ahead of Utah's largest outlets.

PARK CITY, Utah — TownLift reporter Marina Knight won two first-place awards at the 2026 Utah Society of Professional Journalists contest on June 11, the first time the outlet has competed and the first awards in its five-year history. Both came in Division A, the category for the state’s largest news organizations.

TownLift had never entered the contest before. After five years covering Park City and Summit County, the newsroom decided to measure its work against the best reporters in the state, less for the recognition than to see how the reporting held up.

It held up well. Knight’s coverage placed first in Homelessness and Housing for “The true price of ‘affordable’ housing as low income residents are plagued by costly repairs,” an investigation into the repair costs burdening residents of income-restricted housing. Her work also placed first in Military and Veterans Affairs for “Local Army veteran’s dangerous I-80 standoff was foretold and ignored.” She earned an additional honorable mention for her reporting on Epic Pass’s zero-tolerance policy and the skiers it left stranded.

“Of course it feels rewarding to have the work recognized, but beyond that it shows there are important things going on here in our community. We all know the local importance, but that fact that what is happening here resonates on a state-wide level adds to the drive to keep pursuing work like this.” Knight said.

In the housing category, TownLift finished ahead of The Salt Lake Tribune and Utah News Dispatch. In the veterans category, TownLift finished ahead of the Deseret News and KSL.com. Both organizations operate newsrooms many times the size of TownLift’s, some with more than 40 times the budget and staff.

TownLift was the only Park City newsroom to win in Division A, where the field included The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News, the Associated Press, KSL, FOX 13, and the state’s major investigative newsrooms. Both KPCW and The Park Record had strong years of their own. KPCW earned multiple awards in the radio categories, and The Park Record won multiple awards in Division B, the print bracket that groups smaller newsrooms with college and student publications such as The Daily Universe and University of Utah student media.

The recognized stories reflect the reporting TownLift was built to do: digging into the housing, safety, and accountability questions that shape daily life in Park City and Summit County, with a small team and a fraction of the resources of the newsrooms it stood alongside.

“What I’m most proud of isn’t the award. It’s that this reporting helped real people in our community, and that readers trusted us enough to tell us what was happening. Our small team works incredibly hard to earn that trust and readership every day, and we can’t do this without you,” said Brian Modena, publisher of TownLift.

TownLift also congratulates the reporters and teams across the Wasatch Back whose work was recognized this year. Strong local coverage makes the whole community better informed, and this corner of Utah is fortunate to have so many people committed to it.

And now, back to work.

If there’s something happening in your neighborhood we should be looking into, you can always reach us at tips@townlift.com

TownLift covers Park City and Summit County and is supported by readers and members who keep local reporting free and available to everyone.