The Lead is honored for its July 4 flood coverage by Texas Managing Editors

The Kerr County Lead received eight awards for its coverage of the July 4, 2025 flood at the annual Texas Managing Editors convention in El Paso. The award included a prestigious Texas Headliners Foundation award for breaking news coverage.

The Lead earned first-place awards for deadline writing, feature writing and editorial writing. The Lead’s Jennifer Dean earned a photojournalism first-place award for her portfolio of flood-related photography, including the print special edition published on July 18.

“It’s hard to celebrate these awards because it chronicles the worst day for so many people across Kerr County, the state and nation,” said Louis Amestoy, who founded The Lead in 2021. “While this work recognizes that terrible day, this story is far from over for all of us. We intend to continue to cover this story with the vigor and fairness that our readers expect.”

The Lead’s most significant honor came on Sunday when it received the Texas Headliners Foundation’s Breaking News Report of the Year. The Lead is the smallest news organization to earn the award in more than a decade. It’s an award that is usually won by larger newspapers and the category featured a combined entry from the San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman for their flood reporting. The Lead is also only the second digitally-focused organization to receive a statewide honor from the Headliners’ Foundation.

First place was awarded in the feature writing category for The Lead’s Dec. 20 magazine feature, written by Amestoy and Dean. The feature provided a comprehensive timeline and in-depth study of the science behind the flood’s catastrophic nature, within the framework of the impact and community response. 

The editorial writing win was awarded based on opinion pieces written by Amestoy, including an editorial responding to reports of flood notification failures by the Upper Guadalupe River Authority and Kerr County officials. Amestoy’s piece detailed critical context and history missing from under-researched reporting that was guiding public narrative and legislative review of the disaster.

The Lead was also awarded first place in the Team Effort category for the collaborative work with media partners that led to early reporting of an accurate missing persons list and continued updates through the trusted network. 

Lastly, The Lead was recognized with a third-place award for Newsroom of the Year — a historically print-centric award. 

“It was an honor to see our work recognized,” Amestoy said. “While we don’t do this for the awards, this type of recognition highlights the importance of local news for communities like ours. We may not have the resources of some of the larger news organizations but our readers deserve local news coverage that is detailed, relevant and accurate. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”

PHOTOJOURNALISM AWARD

FEATURE WRITING