KXAN's 'OutLaw' project named winner of 3 NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists awards.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists named KXAN the recipient of three awards as part of the association's 2024 Excellence in Journalism Awards. The honors recognized KXAN's "OutLaw," a Catalyst investigative project analyzing a half-century's worth of laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans and a record number of proposed bills introduced related to the LGBTQ+ community in the 2023 Texas Legislature.

The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists selected "OutLaw" as the winner of the following categories:

“It is always a pleasure to recognize the recipients of our annual Excellence in Journalism Awards,” said Adam Pawlus, executive director of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, in the release. “This year’s winning pieces show that LGBTQ people are living full and unfiltered lives all over the world: from queer roller derby stars in the Bay Area, to drag performers in rural Appalachia, to thrifting collectives in Nigeria, our communities are everywhere."

KXAN's Catalyst is a specialty unit within the station's investigative team and priority's digital-first storytelling across multiple platforms. The goal of the ongoing series is to help make positive changes in society, with past Catalyst projects centered around missing persons cases, mass violence and medical debt lawsuits.

"OutLaw" included a dozen standalone stories alongside a three-part documentary and an accompanying three-episode podcast. The project, launched in November 2023, involved more than KXAN employees — with many of them members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well.