Sahan Journal’s “Meet Your Mayor” quizzes and its series of stories on the Trump administration’s impact on higher education won top awards from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists this year.
The two first-place awards were among 11 Sahan staff received Tuesday night at the 2026 Minnesota SPJ Page One Award ceremony in St. Paul.
SPJ judges praised the engaging and interactive nature of the mayoral quizzes, which allowed readers to see how candidates’ views aligned with their own.
The project, led by reporter Joey Peters, data reporter Cynthia Tu and news app developer Sam Rabiyah, offered “memorable tools” and gave readers “ongoing opportunities for civic learning,” the judges wrote.
The quizzes drew close to a third of Election Day voters in St. Paul and close to a fifth of such voters in Minneapolis, in a year featuring a highly competitive Minneapolis mayoral race between incumbent Jacob Frey and state Sen. Omar Fateh.
Becky Z. Dernbach, Shubhanjana Das and Cynthia Tu also drew praise for a series of stories on “How Trump’s return to office changed the University of Minnesota.”
Those stories included a look at the Trump administration’s rollback in federal grants to colleges and universities, especially those tied to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the administration’s detentions of international students and the enrollment decline among new students from India.
The stories offered “an expansive look at the myriad ways state institutions are navigating federal decision-making and the real world impact that results,” the judges wrote.
Sahan staff also won five second-place awards:
– Joey Peters and Mohamed Ibrahim won second place for enterprise reporting for their stories on a housing development aimed at Somali homebuyers: “Somali homebuyers’ dreams dashed by Nolosha Development’s failed promises, missing deposits.”
– Multimedia reporter Dymanh Chhoun and digital producer Alberto Villafan received second place in the TV/video breaking news category for their coverage of a federal sting in June: “Protesters clash with federal, MPD officers over armed enforcement action on Lake Street.”
– Villafan, community engagement manager Hannah Ihekoronye, audience growth manager Samantha HoangLong and chief growth officer Michael Tortorello were recognized for their Instagram Live “How is the ICE surge affecting Somali Minnesotans?”
– Tu won second place for her data visualization in “How the ‘Slate for Change’ strategy played out in the Minneapolis mayoral election.”
– And artist Cori Lin was recognized for her graphic-novel style illustrations with Dernbach’s yearlong story on two Andersen Middle School students: “They came to the U.S. to attend middle school. Then the immigration crackdown began.”
Third-place awards included a breaking-news award for Katrina Pross for her ongoing coverage of “The Trial of Derrick Thompson”; a health coverage award for Mohamed Ibrahim for “Impacts of Medicaid cuts by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress on Minnesotans”; an environmental news award for Andrew Hazzard for “Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe fears proposed nickel mine will foul nearby waters”; and a best-interview award for Shubhanjana Das for “Family of man swept up in St. Paul ICE raid say agents entered house without a warrant.”
A full list of the 2026 SPJ Awards is available here.
