Belleville News-Democrat recognized for its reporting. Revisit the winning work

The Belleville News-Democrat has won 15 awards for its community reporting in 2025, including three first-place finishes and the top award for best school board coverage.

The Illinois Press Association recognized the BND’s work at a ceremony Thursday in East Peoria.

Reporter Madison Lammert received the Robert M. Cole Award for Best School Board Coverage and an additional first-place award for education beat reporting that included stories that uncovered capitol sending and transparency issues at SWIC, the resignation of a popular educator after she received public blowback on a personal Facebook post, and a deeply reported article outlining the impact of federal education funding on metro-east schools.

Judges said of Lammert’s work: “Excellent enterprise reporting on a variety of board work and education topics with local impacts well-researched and written, reflecting an understanding of public education issues and decisions within the communities the newspaper serves.”

Photographer Joshua Carter was also honored with a first-place award for a feature photo of a dog saved from a hoarding situation by a local rescue group.

“It’s such a sweet and tender moment. There are a lot of solid entries in this category but the emotional connection between the dog and the dog rescue worker propelled this photo to the top,” a judge wrote.

Carter received third-place awards for an online photo series/gallery from a local Elvis Convention and an agricultural story about a company using farmers’ flocks to “lamp-scape” its grass instead of mowing.

The BND staff received a second-place award for a news reporting series that documented the ways Donald Trump’s first year back in office affected metro-east residents. The coverage also earned the newspaper a fourth-place award for community service. Reporters Lexi Cortes and Teri Maddox received individual second-place and third-place awards, respectively, for localized national stories on the Trump administration’s spending cuts.

Judges noted the series’ balanced and non-partisan approach to a hot-button topic and its reliance on objective data.

Cortes was also honored with a second-place award for business/economic reporting about an out-of-town investment firm with a history of neglecting mobile home parks forcing low-income tenants out of their homes.

Maddox received third-place awards for city of Belleville beat reporting and for news reporting on a single story about secrecy surrounding a controversial solar farm. She and now-retired reporter Mike Koziatek also won a fourth-place award for an obituary tribute story about local philanthropist Joe Hubbard’s life of community service.

The BND received the Mabel Shaw Memorial Sweepstakes Award in Class E, which includes other large, regionally focused newsrooms.

Newsroom series: ‘The Trump Effect’

• Local U.S. attorney deals with government shutdown, partisan message on website

• Pritzker says Illinois working to soften impact of SNAP cuts imposed by Trump

• Southern Illinois’ members of congress split on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

• AmeriCorps workers in metro-east told to stay home after DOGE cuts to funding

• Trump & DOGE cuts continue. Just how dependent is Illinois on the federal government?

• Under Trump, EEOC seeks to drop trans discrimination lawsuit against metro-east pig farmer

• Metro-east teachers fear closing the Department of Education will harm students. Here’s how

• Metro-east schools won’t be ‘battleground for immigration policy,’ superintendents say

• East St. Louis loses federal schools funding. What it means for parents, students

• If SNAP ends, what happens to free lunches in metro-east schools?

• Lawsuits challenge federal cuts to Community Schools, including East St. Louis

• East St. Louis schools could lose $19 million in federal funds clawback

• East St. Louis schools get update on $19 million federal funding clawback

• How will Trump administration’s $6B school funding freeze impact Belleville?

• Hundreds of metro-east students may lose after-school programs as funding runs out

• How much federal funding does your metro-east school get and how is it spent?

• Undocumented father among those in the metro-east facing swift deportation

• Fairview Heights pizza restaurant employee sentenced; family fears he’ll be deported

• Pride, hope and fear at naturalization ceremony in metro-east

• Disabled southern Illinois woman fears loss of home if Medicaid funding is cut

• With proposed Medicaid cuts, southern Illinois hospitals may be forced to slash services

• Why is St. Elizabeth’s spending $50M on construction with Medicaid cuts ahead

• Will COVID vaccines still be available in Illinois as federal guidelines change?

• Trump pauses updates from CDC, FDA & more. Here’s where Illinoisans can find health info

• Can metro-east food pantries handle demand if SNAP is stopped by shutdown?

• What Trump priorities, EPA firings mean for sewage spills in metro-east city

• ‘Deeply concerning.’ PFAS cleanup delayed at Scott Air Force Base

• How will federal funding freeze affect the $89.5M in flood relief for St. Clair County?

• ‘Playing games with people’s lives’: Cuts hit Illinois city plagued by sewage

• Metro-east protesters confront Bost on his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ victory tour

• Belleville, O’Fallon ‘No Kings’ rallies protest Trump. What are their demands?

• ‘Bring their daddy home.’ Rally demands local father’s release from ICE custody

• Belleville attorney leads ‘good trouble’ protest in honor of John Lewis

Localized national stories

• Illinois family farmers hoped new federal grant would grow their business. Now it’s cut

• AmeriCorps workers in metro-east told to stay home after DOGE cuts to funding

Belleville beat reporting

• Zoning request for historic Belleville building reignites old controversy

• Belleville targets ‘junkyard’ property after 20-year feud with neighbor

• Opponents of solar farm at Mount Hope Cemetery launch campaign to stop it

• Belleville withheld information on solar farm from public, opponents say

• Belleville woman accuses City Council of ‘ambush’ on Airbnb request

Education beat reporting, best school board coverage

• East St. Louis loses federal schools funding. What it means for parents, students

• Emails detail path from Facebook controversy to metro-east teacher’s resignation

• Meet new principals and superintendents in St. Clair County

• SWIC spending $62M on capital projects, but withholds key details

• Judge rules Cahokia school district broke labor law at start of last year

• How much federal funding does your metro-east school get and how is it spent?

News reporting, single story

• Belleville withheld information on solar farm from public, opponents say

Business/economic reporting

• Belleville tenants say they couldn’t get repairs. Now landlord is ending leases

Obituary tribute

• Joe Hubbard’s life of service inspired others in Belleville and beyond

Agricultural story

• Metro-east solar company uses farmers instead of mowers to do their lamb-scaping

Photo series

• Professional “kings” rocked, rolled and remembered at metro-east Elvis Festival

Feature photo

• Small dogs rescued from metro-east hoarding situation now available for adoption

This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 5:30 AM.