Houston Landing journalists brought home 13 awards from the 2025 Texas Managing Editors’ contest, including first place wins in the community service and Michael Brick storytelling categories. The awards were announced over the weekend in San Antonio.
The Landing’s wins come on the heels of CEO Peter Bhatia announcing that the nonprofit news organization’s board of directors decided earlier this month to cease publication and shut down on May 15.
“I am really proud of the work that was honored,” Bhatia said. “It shows the range of skill and hard work members of our team have put in. And it reflects so well on our newsroom leadership, led by Manny Garcia, whose guidance has produced important, unique work for Houston.”
Asher Lehrer-Small, the Landing’s HISD reporter, took home first place in community service reporting for his investigation into the illegal suspensions of homeless students from schools across Texas.
His stories explained how a well-intentioned 2019 state law lacking enforcement mechanisms coupled with a lack of oversight from the Texas Education Agency resulted in thousands of homeless students being banned from hundreds of schools.
“Great and important read,” the contest judge commented. “Way to flesh out a problem and go after it and come back with a follow explaining how schools are trying to prevent this from occurring.”
Lehrer-Small was also a second place winner for Star Investigative Report of the Year.
General assignment reporter Dion Nissenbaum won first place in the contest’s Michael Brick Storytelling Award for his reporting on a Houston area teenager’s odyssey across state lines to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Nissenbaum and photojournalist Lexi Parra chronicled the teenager’s 1,500-mile road trip to and from a tiny abortion clinic in New Mexico, highlighting one of the thousands of women who are forced to leave Texas each year to end their pregnancies.
“Nissenbaum’s writing made clear the difficulty of the young woman’s decision and the cruelty of Texas’ anti-abortion laws that try to force women to remain pregnant against their will while knowing nothing at all about their personal circumstances,” the contest judge commented.
Nissenbaum also received an honorable mention in feature writing.
Photojournalist Antranik Tavitian, diverse communities reporter Monique Welch and immigration reporter Anna-Catherine Brigida each took home second place wins in feature photography, specialty reporting and Star Reporter of the Year, respectively.
Brigida was also an honorable mention in specialty reporting.
“To be recognized by our peers with 13 awards reaffirms the quality of the journalism that our newsroom produces every day in service of Houston,” said Editor-in-Chief Manny García, who attended this past weekend in San Antonio the Texas Managing Editors convention and awards ceremony. “It is also inspiring to see how much our Texas news’ colleagues value the work that the Houston Landing has published and what we mean for our community.
The Landing took home a third place win in the contest’s team effort category for their work covering the Colony Ridge development. The staff also received honorable mentions for deadline writing for a story by education reporter Miranda Dunlap detailing the federal government’s investigation into LQBTQ policies in Katy ISD and Star Online Package of the Year for the 2024 Voter Guide led by government solutions reporter Tim Carlin.
Associate editor for investigations Alison Young won an honorable mention in the freedom of information category for her reporting on gas pipelines in Texas.
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