Baltimore Fishbowl won 27 awards for its work in 2025, including a Best of Show award for “General Website Excellence,” in the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. (MDDC) Press Association Contest.
This was Baltimore Fishbowl’s seventh year participating in MDDC’s contest, and our third year competing in Division C with news publications of a similar audience size, including Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times, Catholic Review, Daily State News, Daily Times, and Maryland Matters.
First- and second-place awards were distributed within each division, while Best of Show honors were bestowed upon each category’s top winner overall across all divisions.
Baltimore Fishbowl tied with Baltimore Beat for the Best of Show award for “General Website Excellence.” This is our organization’s second time receiving this honor, having won Best of Show in this category in 2023 (for the 2022 contest year). Previously, the organization also won first place in the category in 2025 (for the 2024 contest year) and second place in 2024 (for the 2023 contest year).
Baltimore Fishbowl contributing writer Len Foxwell earned Best of Show in the “Online Blog Category. In our division, Foxwell won first place for his piece about the uphill battle that Democratic candidates face in their efforts to unseat Maryland’s lone Republican congressman, Rep. Andy Harris, in the state’s 1st District. His piece on reinvigorating democracy in Maryland earned him a second-place award.
Baltimore Fishbowl swept the “Advertising-driven Special Publication, standalone” category. Publisher and advertising director Nicole Allen, designer Charlie Herrick, and contributing writer Karen Nitkin won first place for their work on Baltimore Fishbowl’s 2025-2026 Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools. Allen and designer Julie Kichline earned second place for their work on Baltimore Fishbowl’s 2025 Guide to Summer Camps.
Kichline also won first place in the “Feature Page Design” category for her page design for an article about the arts at summer camps for Baltimore Fishbowl’s camp guide.
Herrick won second place in the “Page 1 Design” category for the cover he designed for Baltimore Fishbowl’s school guide.
Our organization swept the “Self Promotion Advertising” category, with Herrick winning first place for his advertisement promoting Baltimore Fishbowl’s second annual Oyster Shellebration event, and Kichline earning second place for her advertisement promoting our independent schools guide.
Contributor Charlie Dunn’s video that also promoted the Shellebration won first place in the “Multi-media ad” category. The event itself won second place in the “Best Event” category.
@baltfishbowl BFB Guide to Oyster Shucking ♬ original sound – baltfishbowl
Baltimore Fishbowl swept the “Arts/Entertainment Reporting” category, with staff writer Aliza Worthington securing first place with her article about a Towson woman named “Broadway’s Biggest Fan.” Managing editor Marcus Dieterle earned second place for his article about the Baltimore Center Stage theater rejecting federal funding after the Trump administration’s anti-DEI orders.
In this year’s “Wild Card” category, Worthington won second place for her coverage of a Maryland transgender woman from Mexico who was forced to await her bond hearing in an all-male ICE facility in Florida.
The “Wild Card” theme changes each year, with this year’s focus on the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on local communities.
Worthington also won second place in the “Continuing Coverage” category for her reporting on a backyard go-kart track in Howard County that drew the ire of neighbors.
In the “Feature Story: Non-Profile” category, Dieterle earned second place for his story about the Pimlico Cake, a beloved Preakness tradition.
Contributing writer Ed Gunts emerged victorious in the “Local Government” category, with his first place-winning article about Baltimore’s Public Art Commission getting a sweeping overhaul.
Gunts also earned second place in the “Feature Story: Profile” category for his article about Baltimore filmmaker and self-described filthmonger John Waters approaching his 80th birthday. Waters turned 80 years old on April 22, 2026.
Baltimore Fishbowl’s 2025 summer intern, Eddy Calkins, was awarded first and second place in the “News-driven Multimedia Storytelling” category for his coverage of a “No Kings Day” protest in Patterson Park.
@baltfishbowl Thousands of “No Kings Day” protesters blanketed a Patterson Park hilltop in Baltimore on Saturday as they demonstrated their opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration. Patterson Park was one of at least 25 protests in Maryland, joining almost 2,000 more across the country on Saturday, according to the No Kings Day website. The movement was deemed a nationwide “day of defiance” to Trump’s administration. Read more at baltimorefishbowl.com. Reporting by Eddy Calkins/Baltimore Fishbowl. * * * #baltimore #baltimorecity #Maryland #pattersonpark #protest #protests #protesters #nokings #nokingsday #nokingsdayprotest #president #presidenttrump #presidentdonaldtrump #donaldtrump #Trump #trumpadministration #trumpprotest #ice #immigrant #immigration #science #usaid #LGBT #lgbtq #pride #pridemonth #baltimorenews #marylandnews #localnews #localjournalism #news #journalism #baltimorefishbowl ♬ original sound – baltfishbowl
Calkins, who will graduate this month from the University of Maryland, also earned second place in the “Features Video” category for his video about a portrait of University of Maryland School of Medicine founder Dr. John Beale Davidge that was discovered at the former Bertha’s Mussels restaurant in Baltimore.
@baltfishbowl Inside a storage closet at the former Bertha’s Mussels restaurant, the discovery of a painting has filled a long-standing gap in the story of Baltimore’s Davidge Hall, home to the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Read more at baltimorefishbowl.com Video and reporting by Eddy Calkins/Baltimore Fishbowl * * * #universityofmaryland #umd #universityofmarylandschoolofmedicine #davidge #davidgehall #drdavidge #johnbealedavidge #johndavidge #painting #portrait #medicine #medical #school #schoolofmedicine #medicalschool #berthas #berthasmussels #baltimore #baltimoremd #baltimoremaryland #Maryland #baltimorecity #fellspoint #fellspointbaltimore #fellspointmd #marylandstatemedicalsociety #medchi #health #Healthcare #restaurant #baltimorefishbowl #baltimorenews #localnews #news #art ♬ original sound – baltfishbowl
Taking home first place in the “Series” category, Loyola University Maryland students Matt McCarney, Jack Barker, Joe Mesa, and Nathan McConarty reported on Baltimore’s vacant homes crisis. The articles were completed for the students’ senior capstone project in Loyola’s Department of Communications and Media, under the supervision of April Newton.
Columnist Dan Rodricks earned second place in the “Local Column: Critical Thinking” category for his piece about President Donald Trump disparaging Baltimore.
Contributing writer Karuga Koinange won second place in the “Religion Reporting” category about a Jewish group that tailgates at Baltimore Ravens games.
Photojournalist Maggie Jones’s photo of a crowd member stage diving during the band Turnstile’s concert in Wyman Park Dell earned second place in the “Feature Photo” category.
Congratulations to all Baltimore Fishbowl staff members and contributors who won awards this year. Congratulations, as well, to our colleagues in newsrooms across Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. who were recognized in this year’s contest.
Thank you to our readers, whose support has made it possible for Baltimore Fishbowl to deliver important news stories and columns like these to community members across the greater Baltimore region for 15 years. Here’s to 15 more (and beyond)!
Revisit our MDDC award-winning pieces from 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Best,
Marcus Dieterle
Managing Editor
Baltimore Fishbowl
