Thank you, Arizona!

Hello Kiki readers-

You might not have seen (it was a surprise to us, even) that LOOKOUT was named "Best Source for LGBTQ+ News" by Phoenix Magazine in their "Best of the Valley 2024" edition that just published.

The review said they worried that when I left the Arizona Republic, I was possibly making a mistake. But LOOKOUT has suddenly become "the latest must-read in town," it said.

That alone is an incredible win for me, because the reality is that a lot of people thought I was misguided for leaving an investigative job—a coveted position in newsrooms—to report on LGBTQ+ issues.

But I didn't step away from investigative work; I just shifted from reporting on prisons and police to using the same tools, experience, and rigor to serving the state's LGBTQ+ community. And that's what breaks people's brains, because news leaders don't think we deserve that level of high-quality journalism.

The reality is there is no other newsroom in the nation giving the LGBTQ+ community as much investigative and accountability-focused news as us. In private conversations with other queer newsroom leaders, they all have said the same: no one is doing what LOOKOUT is doing.

And there is a market for it, as Phoenix Magazine and others have noticed.

But none of this could have been proven without you. So, thank you for continuing to read, promote, and champion our work. Let's continue to shake up the status quo.

-Joseph Darius Jaafari

*Also, big congratulations to all the other winners, including our friends at the Arizona Agenda for their win as "Best Political Newsletter," Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting for their investigative news award, Window Coffee for their best coffee drive thru win, and Phoenix Pride for their two wins.