photo by Patti Sigmon
Nothing can re-create the feeling of uncorking a fresh batch of slime from Austin-based manufacturer PeachyBbies and digging your fingies in. But dare we say there’s as much pleasure to be had in digging into their socials? Just ask the millions of slime enthusiasts tuning in for new product reveals; behind-the-scenes looks at how the slime sausage gets made; warehouse games serving real Double Dare energy; and ASMR videos that amplify every squelch, cronch, and glitter crinkle. Never change, bbies.
view this award on its own page ›
Paulina Perez knows what being a tourist in your own city looks like. Her hunt for the hottest and most picturesque Austin has to offer is never-ending, and what's more, she shares her findings in both English and Spanish. Perez grew up on the Mexican-American border and moved to Austin for college, where she began posting exceedingly popular bilingual "day in the life" content of her days at UT-Austin on TikTok. Post-graduation, Perez continues to document her adventures, her experience as a Mexican American, and her Austin recommendations. Skip Googling "best coffee near me" and check out what Perez thinks is the bomb-dot-com instead.
view this award on its own page ›
via Instagram
via Instagram
With mustachioed mouth right up to the camera, David Douglass sauces. He chomps. He slurps. He moans. There’s something very visceral about the videos of this Austin restaurant recommender. The commentary gets messy, too, offering single-guy takes like “I haven’t seen manipulation this good since I love-bombed a girl I just met” (on Comadre Pandería’s buzzy pastries). Even if you’re not up for the light raunch and überonline references, his feed is a great resource for new-to-you ATX meals. Clicks across Instagram and TikTok have led to a townie brand partnership with Chuy’s, as well as a pasta, jazz, and wine pop-up called Prati.
www.instagram.com/thedaviddouglass
view this award on its own page ›
No matter how long you’ve lived in Austin, KUT’s ATXplained will surprise you with something you didn’t know about our city. Taking the popular podcast and radio news feature to the live stage is a different experience altogether, though, as the familiar voices augment their stories with visuals and performances. It’s an exercise in rabbit holes, more about taking the audience along on the journey of the investigators joyfully following their curiosity and journalistic instincts than necessarily finding answers to listeners’ questions. The results are often hilarious, sometimes deeply emotional and personal, and always enlightening and entertaining.
view this award on its own page ›
via X.com
Texas Prisons Community Advocates has been in existence for only three years but is already one of the most effective messengers for incarcerated people in the state. That's in large part thanks to the efforts of TPCA's founder and president, Amite Dominick. Dominick organized the group to draw attention to the life-threatening heat that 85,000 inmates endure every summer in Texas prisons without air conditioning. The goal is to get the prisons to install A/C so cells don’t exceed 85 degrees, and TPCA, under Dominick's admirable leadership, will be holding 85 to Stay Alive events through the summer to get the word out.
view this award on its own page ›
It's no surprise that when City Council prepared to give final approval to a series of land use reforms in May – the most ambitious in at least 40 years – Council members took a moment to thank Awais Azhar. Deputy director of HousingWorks Austin and a fourth-term planning commissioner, Azhar is widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and hardest-working individuals in Austin's housing policy space. Through his work on the Planning Commission and as a community advocate, he helped improve many of the housing reforms Council recently passed. The people of Austin are lucky to live among smart, dedicated volunteers like Azhar.
view this award on its own page ›
via Unequal Cities
photo by Rebecca Campbell
Running the Austin Film Society means a lot more than just watching a few films and talking movies with fellow film buffs. In the 26 years since Rebecca Campbell joined as executive director, and in her last 8 years as CEO, she's helped AFS grow from a movie-watching club to the state's most powerful advocates for movie production and appreciation. That includes leading the team that opened Austin Studios, established the Texas Film Hall of Fame, distributed millions and counting in grants to rising filmmakers, lobbied the Texas Legislature for TV and film tax rebates, and brought to life AFS Cinema, a theatre so beloved that Chronicle readers voted it their favorite in Austin this year.
view this award on its own page ›
Regular Chronicle readers know many of the people and stories that make up the documentary film An Army of Women, which had its world premiere at this year's SXSW Film & Television Festival. But thanks to the work of Julie Lunde Lillesæter and her producers, a wider audience can also learn about three of the women who fought a legal and political campaign to force the Austin Police Department to better serve survivors of sexual assault. That work is ongoing, but the efforts of the survivor-advocates who made it happen will now be immortalized in film.
view this award on its own page ›
via Facebook
Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
UT's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff didn’t deserve this. At the Chronicle, we’ve reported on life-changing courses that helped lift Black and brown kids from low-income families into spaces they never expected to occupy. We’ve heard in interviews how a DEI lens in UT classes helped students feel a sense of belonging, even as they studied STEM subjects that so often lack a historical perspective. The more than 60 people in DEI-related roles laid off by the University of Texas deserve applause, not severance.
view this award on its own page ›
Amanda Zurawski wanted to become a mom. Instead, Texas’ extreme abortion ban caused a chain of events that nearly killed her, and put her fertility in jeopardy. At 18 weeks pregnant, she developed a condition her baby likely would not survive, but Texas doctors couldn't help her abort. Zurawski went into septic shock twice before she was considered close enough to death for an abortion. She is the Zurawski in Zurawski v. Texas, the high-profile lawsuit that challenged Texas' abortion bans. The Texas Supreme Court unanimously rejected that challenge in May, but Zurawski's efforts aren't limited to court. She’s at press conferences, the State of the Union address, in panels at SXSW, and even a Biden campaign commercial. Her story has touched the nation. We thank her for her service.
view this award on its own page ›
photo by Jana Birchum
photo by Jana Birchum
An urban planning trend we'd like to see more of is a concept known as the "agrihood," which is basically a planned community that incorporates agriculture into the daily lives of residents. East Austin's Green Gate Farms is one local example, where people living on the organization's 30-acre Village Farm can learn to farm and garden, purchase freshly harvested fruits and vegetables from neighbors, and participate in regular social events. A City Council resolution authored by CM Natasha Harper-Madison hopes to spur development of other agrihoods across the city.
Village Farm
8316 Canoga Ave.
www.greengatefarms.net/thefarms
view this award on its own page ›
It takes guts to stand up for what you believe in, and guts are what we’ve seen from countless Austinites who’ve taken to City Hall, stepped off of SXSW stages, and sat down on campuses to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. At UT-Austin in particular, hordes of mostly young people were tackled, pepper sprayed, and even arrested for their convictions. While the administration has not bent to students who demanded the school divest in weapons manufacturers whose products are killing civilians in Gaza, the impact of nationwide protests has been felt in Gaza. As one Gazan told the Chronicle, “I feel like someone is with us for the first time. I’m certain that the whole world sees what is happening to us.”
view this award on its own page ›
