The national journalism nonprofit Report for America announced the winners of its fifth annual Local News Awards last week , and our very own agriculture and environment reporter Phillip Powell came away with not one but two honors.

RFA is a national service program that aims to address the decline of local journalism by placing reporters into local newsrooms and covering a portion of their salary. Powell, a 2025 RFA corps member and Arkansas native, came to the Arkansas Times last summer as part of RFA’s collaboration with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. Since then, he’s covered Arkansas ag and enviro issues large and small, from the impact of tariffs on Arkansas soybean farmers to a local fight over an air-fouling waste lagoon near Fort Smith .

RFA’s honors o

See Full Page