IT WAS ANNOUNCED on March 26 that the Detroit Society of Professional Journalists (DSPJ) has awarded a prize for investigative journalism to The Ann Arbor Independent newspaper. The Indy, launched in October 2013, is the first locally-owned weekly newspaper published in Ann Arbor since 1902, when the Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat was in print. The article which won the award is titled, “Officials Dump Millions In Public Money Into Local Job Creation & Exercise Little Oversight.” The piece, one in a series, examines the job creation claims of Ann Arbor SPARK and documents a systematic and chronic lack of oversight by elected and appointed officials of the millions of tax dollars diverted to fund SPARK since 2006, when Governor Rick Snyder served as SPARK’s CEO.

Katherine Griswold, Chair of the newspaper’s seven-member Editorial Board, said, “This award proves that when you have intelligent people working hard to bring excellent journalism to a community everyone benefits. Ann Arbor has had a lot of ‘go along to get along’ news reporting. The Independent provides straightforward coverage of local news.”

Patricia Lesko (left) publishes The Indy. “This newspaper represents a return to 1945 in many ways: it harkens back to a time when the majority of newspapers in America were independent and locally-owned by people with strong ties to their communities. When I went to our banker for funding for a locally-owned print newspaper project, I said the goal was provide our community with smart, fearless, award-winning journalism.”

The Ann Arbor Independent is funded primarily by subscriptions rather than by advertising. Patricia Lesko said that The Indy doesn’t accept advertising from local or county government, the public schools, or local universities.  “We made that decision so that the paper would be able to pursue investigations aggressively. This award from the DSPJ would suggest we’re on the right track,” she said.

The Ann Arbor Independent is published each Wednesday, and is available at shops, grocery stores and  newsstands throughout Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Dexter.