Indy Takes Home 13 Local Reporting Awards

by Staff

The Independent has received 13 awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists (CTSPJ) for our reporting on ICE arrests, housing, and local reverberations of national stories.

The honors, announced Monday, were granted by the CTSPJ for our reporting in 2025.

The Independent participates in Division C, the category for the state’s smallest newspapers. Read more about which articles were recognized below.

Laura Glesby, Dereen Shirnekhi, Paul Bass and Thomas Breen won first place for breaking news reporting about how the local community scrambled in the wake of sudden federal funding cuts.

Laura Glesby won first place in “Courts/Crime” for her reporting on a Fair Haven mom’s journey from being detained by immigration officials to being awarded asylum and returning home.

Mona Mahadevan won first place in the “In-Depth Local Reporting” category for her analysis of the city’s embrace of the “Build, Build, Build” ideology in an attempt to address a local and state-wide housing shortage.

Education reporter Maya McFadden won first place in schools coverage for her article about the city’s defense of not conducting the superintendent’s evaluation in writing in order to shield it from public request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Thomas Breen won first place in the “Investigative” category for his article about a fire started by a burning mattress at a local property owned by a controversial landlord. Breen also won second place in the same category for his discovery of a local business owned by the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Paul Bass won first place in “Radio” for his segment on WNHH FM about Afghan refugees being turned away after President Donald Trump took office.

Mona Mahadevan won first place in “Government” for her article about a clash between competing tenants unions, each accusing the other of being fake.

Mona Mahadevan also received second place in the same category for her article about the passage of a bill that would ease zoning restrictions downtown, with the hope of building more housing downtown to address a housing shortage.

Laura Glesby won second place in “Health” for her reporting on how local drug users work to stay alive without formal Overdose Prevention Centers, which have been introduced in some other cities.

Nathaniel Rosenberg and Thomas Breen won second place in breaking news for their coverage of a 200-person protest after far right-wing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited New Haven.

Dereen Shirnekhi won second place in courts coverage for her article about a gang member’s sentencing hearing, where a murder victim’s family advocated for a longer prison sentence and emotions erupted.

Laura Glesby, Mona Mahadevan, and Thomas Breen won third place in the “Continuing Coverage” category for coverage of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests, which ramped up in New Haven in 2025. Detainees includes a Wilbur Cross student, a former Afghan interpreter for the U.S., a mother of two in the Hill who was ultimately deported, and multiple workers at a Dixwell Avenue car wash.