The Lens brought home three first-place awards at Saturday nights’ Excellence in Journalism Awards sponsored by the Press Club of New Orleans.

The Lens won the top honors for:

  • Best Local News Website. Second place was nola.com; third was wwltv.com
  • Best Investigative Story in Print, for this story by reporter Matt Davis on moonlighting deputies and the money it brings in to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. Second place was The Louisiana Weekly; third was this story in The Lens by reporter and founder Ariella Cohen about toxic FEMA trailers.
  • Best News Affiliated Blog, for opinion writer Mark Moseley’s work. Second was nola.com’s James O’Byrne. No third-place prize was given.

This is the second year in a row that The Lens won top and multiple honors in the investigative category. The Lens swept that category last year.

Following longtime tradition, the 54th annual The Press Club awards were judged by peer press clubs nationwide. The awards honor work done in 2011.

Our reporting partners at FOX8 news won eight first-place awards. Further, investigative reporter Lee Zurik and photographer Lance Washington also won two special honors, for broadcast writing and TV photography, respectively.

The Press Club’s site has the full list of winners.

Steve Beatty is the publisher and chief executive officer of The Lens. He worked as an editor for The Times-Picayune for 15 years, leaving New Orleans just before Katrina to take a position as an editor...