Lifetime Achievement Award in New Jersey Journalism
Executive Editor, NJ Spotlight
John Mooney — a former reporter for The Record and The Star-Ledger newspapers who co-founded NJ Spotlight and serves as its executive editor — is the recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement in New Jersey Journalism Award. The award is one of the top honors to be presented by the nonprofit Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM) during this year’s Byrne Kean NJ Journalism Awards event on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Morris Museum in Morris Township.
“After two decades as New Jersey’s premier education reporter, first with the Bergen Record and then with The Star-Ledger, John Mooney was the driving force in launching NJ Spotlight, the award-winning nonprofit public policy website that is the most consequential addition to news coverage of New Jersey this century,” said Mark Magyar, director of the Steve Sweeney Center for Public Policy at Rowan University and chair of the NJ Journalism Awards committee.
“Working with John in the early years of NJ Spotlight, I saw firsthand how his leadership and integrity shaped the website and its reporting, which was honored internationally with the Online News Association’s Award for General Excellence in 2011. John shepherded NJ Spotlight through its merger with WNET and NJPBS in 2019, and he has been managing the transition of NJ Spotlight to Montclair State University and the new NJ PBS organization based at the university this fall,” added Magyar, a former New Jersey statehouse reporter.
Loretta Weinberg Award for Journalism Impact
Chief Political Correspondent for New Jersey Network and NJTV
Chris Daggett, chairperson of the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium Board of Directors, will receive the Loretta Weinberg Award for Journalism Impact at the sixth annual Byrne Kean NJ Journalism Awards event on Thursday, Nov. 5 at the Morris Museum in Morris Township.
The award recognizes non-journalists who have made significant, lasting contributions to New Jersey journalism. It honors the legacy of former State Sen. Weinberg, D-Bergen, who championed government transparency and accountability throughout more than 30 years of public service.
NJ.Com
For their investigation of a cancer cluster in Keyport and its potential connection to the shuttered Aeromarine landfill.
NJ Spotlight
For investigative reporting into urban education challenges throughout New Jersey.
news12 NewJersey
For “Victims of the System: A Kane in Your Corner Investigation” examining New Jersey’s treatment of sexual assault survivors.
NorthJersey.com
A series based on a yearlong investigation into the barriers that keep people with disability in New Jersey for getting adequate medical care.
Montclair Local
For in-depth reporting on a fiscal crisis in the Montclair school system.
The Whit, Rowan University
The West Windsor Voice and Knightly News
Big State Sports
