Local Civic Journalism Awards to invest $100,000 in Vt. news, including Waterbury Roundabout

November 24, 2025  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

Waterbury Roundabout is among 16 Vermont news organizations that will receive the inaugural round of Local Civic Journalism Awards, a new program designed to steer state and philanthropic dollars to news outlets that inform Vermonters and foster civic engagement. 

The Roundabout is one of four Vermont news outlets that will receive a $10,000 award, along with The Bridge in Montpelier, the White River Valley Herald in Randolph, and Brattleboro-based Vermont Independent Media, which operates The Commons and the Deerfield Valley News.

Another dozen news outlets each will receive $5,000 to further their missions. They include Radio Vermont Group/WDEV, The Valley Reporter in Waitsfield, and the Vermont Community News Group, which runs five weekly newspapers, including The Stowe Reporter and the News & Citizen in Morrisville. 

The announcement was made today from the Vermont Secretary of State’s office, the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News and the Vermont Community Foundation. 

Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, whose office administers the awards, noted that a robust press corps is vital to civic engagement. 

“In order for Vermonters to be able to work together to shape and improve their communities, it's essential to have access to trustworthy, transparent local news outlets,” she said. “An investment in Vermont's local and regional news is an investment in an informed, connected and engaged citizenry.”

The awards were envisioned by Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, who secured $50,000 in funding for the program in the state’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget. The Vermont Community Foundation, through its Press Forward Vermont chapter, then matched the state funding with another $50,000. 

“I am so excited to see these civic journalism awards help to strengthen our civic fabric,” Perchlik said. “The growing attention paid to the critical value of local, fact-based journalism gives me hope for our democracy.”

Holly Morehouse, vice president for community impact at the Vermont Community Foundation, said the awards recognize “the incredible dedication and innovation” demonstrated by newsrooms around Vermont. “Local news is a public good that keeps our communities connected. Vibrant communities and robust local news go hand-in-hand,” Morehouse said. 

The award recipients will be honored at the State House this winter, the announcement noted. 

Acknowledging local news

Waterbury Roundabout editor Lisa Scagliotti remarked on being chosen for one of the top awards in the new program. “It’s significant to see the state, along with Press Forward and the Vermont Community Foundation, investing in community news as a way to highlight the importance of local journalism to our individual communities, and the broader Vermont community as a whole. We’re honored to have been considered in this group of dedicated and hard-working Vermont newsrooms,” she said. 

The Waterbury Roundabout launched in May 2020 as an online news outlet covering Waterbury, Duxbury, and the Harwood Unified Union School District after the local weekly print newspaper, The Waterbury Record, ended publication at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that spring. 

It began as a volunteer effort in the UVM Community News Service student internship program and became an independent operation that summer. 

The Roundabout is run as a nonprofit news outlet under the fiscal sponsorship of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the parent 501c3 organization to VtDigger.org. Its small staff consists of Scagliotti as its editor/publisher and reporter, digital editor Julia Bailey-Wells, who designed the Roundabout website as a UVM student in 2020, and local photographer Gordon Miller. Its coverage relies on freelance writers and photographers as well as university and high school student journalists.     

“In addition to seeing readers on our website every day, it’s a significant recognition to be selected by a panel of journalists for one of these new awards. We greatly appreciate the acknowledgement of our work,” Scagliotti said, noting that the award will support the Roundabout’s operations in 2026.   

Likewise, Valley Reporter Editor Lisa Loomis said she and her staff were pleased with the news that they will receive an award as well as the Roundabout. “It’s an honor to be recognized for our role in contributing to healthy public dialogue, curated and accurate reporting, and the importance of local journalism in fostering engaged citizens,” Loomis said. 

The funds will allow the weekly print newspaper to make some improvements in the new year. “This award means being able to upgrade critical infrastructure for electronic and print production,” Loomis said. “We appreciate the efforts of the legislature and Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas’ office and staff in making this happen.” 

Waterbury’s Radio Vermont Group/WDEV is among the veteran Vermont news outlets recognized by the new awards. Owner Myers Mermel acknowledged the recognition on Monday. 

“Radio Vermont thanks the Vermont Center for Community News and the State of Vermont for recognizing WDEV’s 94-year contribution to local news. Serving over 560,000 Vermonters in 12 Vermont counties, WDEV is recognized by Nielsen as Vermont’s #1 News/Talk/Sports station with over 9.5 hours of live local programming every weekday,” Mermel said. 

Rewarding ‘essential coverage’ 

The inaugural awards drew significant interest from around the state, with more than 30 news outlets nominated, according to the announcement. 

To ensure an impartial selection process, the statute authorizing the Local Civic Journalism Awards called for an independent panel to make all funding decisions. UVM’s Center for Community News convened that group, which included current and former journalists, as well as academics — none of whom could be employed by award nominees. 

The recipients represent a broad cross-section of local and regional news organizations — including newspapers that have served their communities for well over a century and digital-only enterprises that have sprung up in recent years to fill a void. They include nonprofit and for-profit entities and are mostly locally controlled. Many of the recipients are based in regions of the state that are otherwise underserved, including the Northeast Kingdom, southern Vermont, and the Upper Valley. 

In deciding how to distribute the $100,000 in award funding, the panelists opted to award $10,000 each to four news organizations “that have particularly distinguished themselves in recent years by reimagining the way they foster civic engagement in their respective communities and sustain themselves for the future,” their announcement states. The panel also made a dozen awards of $5,000 each to “news organizations that provide essential coverage to their communities.” 

In addition to those named above, the other news outlets receiving $5,000 awards are: The Addison County Independent in Middlebury, the Barton Chronicle, the Caledonian-Record in St. Johnsbury, the Chester Telegraph, the Hardwick Gazette, the Hinesburg Record, the Journal-Opinion in Bradford, the North Star Monthly in Danville, and the Valley News in West Lebanon, N.H., which serves Vermont and New Hampshire communities along the state border. 

Paul Heintz, a senior adviser to the Center for Community News who convened the selection panel, commented on the process. 

“The quality and quantity of nominations we received reinforced to me how much excellent community journalism is taking place throughout Vermont,” he said. “But many of these nominees are struggling to stay afloat in an ever-changing news environment. I hope these awards inspire other Vermonters to subscribe to, advertise in, and donate to the essential news outlets that keep us all informed.”

Heintz explained that, in reviewing nominations, the panel considered how nominees served their audiences; contributed to civic engagement; produced reliable, fact-checked journalism; adhered to ethical standards; and presented a vision for a sustainable future. The group chose not to select any statewide news organizations this year, opting instead to support local and regional outlets. 

In sharing the news of Waterbury Roundabout’s selection for a Local Civic Journalism Award, Heintz shared this feedback: “The independent panelists who selected recipients were enormously impressed by the Roundabout's hyperlocal approach to covering Waterbury. You cover essential local news, such as selectboard and school committee meetings, but you also share basic information (with context) that will help your readers with their everyday lives — such as the Road Work page. You engage your community by soliciting their work and highlighting important events, such as high school graduations. Waterbury is lucky to have you.”