Examiner wins Nebraska press awards

Nebraska Examiner picked up multiple honors at the Nebraska Press Association’s 2026 awards in Lincoln, including a statewide award for reporter Zach Wendling. (news.yahoo.com) Wendling was named Outstanding Young Nebraska Journalist for 2026, an award for Nebraska reporters, editors and photographers under 30. Judges cited his “deep dives” into the Unicameral and said he paired subject knowledge with data in his stories. (news.yahoo.com) The Examiner also placed third in the Nebraska Press Association’s 2026 Better Newspaper Contest, behind Flatwater Free Press and the Lincoln Journal Star. Wendling won first in explanatory journalism for reporting on medical cannabis, and Juan Salinas II placed second in breaking news for coverage of U.S. Rep. Don Bacon’s retirement from Congress. (news.yahoo.com) The awards were handed out during the Nebraska Press Association convention in Lincoln on April 17 and 18, 2026. The trade group, founded in 1873, represents Nebraska newspapers and runs the Better Newspaper Contest as part of its annual convention. (nebpress.com) Nebraska Examiner is a nonprofit state news outlet in the States Newsroom network, and its site says its focus is accountability reporting on government, agencies and public spending in Nebraska. That mission overlaps with the kind of statehouse and policy coverage judges highlighted in Wendling’s work. (nebraskaexaminer.com) Wendling joined the Examiner after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2023 with degrees in journalism and political science. His university profile says he previously covered the Board of Regents, campus administration and the 2022 midterm elections. (journalism.unl.edu) The Unicameral, the Legislature judges referenced, is Nebraska’s single-house state legislature and a regular focus of the Examiner’s political coverage. In a state with one chamber instead of two, detailed bill-by-bill reporting can shape how readers follow debates on taxes, elections and social policy. (zachwendling2.com) The same awards program also gave its top individual honor, the Master Editor-Publisher Award, to Imperial publisher Russ Pankonin, underscoring that the contest spans both legacy local papers and newer digital outlets. For the Examiner, the weekend added formal recognition from the state’s newspaper trade group to a newsroom built around covering Nebraska government full time. (news.yahoo.com)