The Local

The Local is a Toronto-based nonprofit online magazine covering urban health and social issues in the Greater Toronto Area, publishing without advertising or a paywall.

Overview

The Local (formally The Local TO Publishing) is a Toronto-based nonprofit online magazine covering urban health and social issues in the greater Toronto area, publishing long-form features, investigations and essays. The Local is a Registered Journalism Organization under Canadian law (#711980086RR0001) and a member of Press Forward, a coalition supporting independent and nonprofit journalism.

History

The Local began in 2017 as a hyper-local storytelling project at UHN OpenLab, a design and innovation studio at Toronto's University Health Network. It was spun off as an independent nonprofit organization in May 2019, with initial financial support from the Wellesley Institute, United Way Greater Toronto, the Toronto Foundation and the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Tai Huynh has described the outlet's original aim as producing the kind of in-depth, nuanced storytelling found in The Walrus or The New Yorker, but set within Toronto neighbourhoods, rather than competing with legacy media to break daily news.

The Local operates without advertising or a paywall, relying on reader donations and philanthropic foundation support, and publicly discloses all donors who contribute more than $5,000 annually. In 2026, the organization received funding from the City of Toronto to spotlight Two-Spirit, trans and non-binary storytelling, and its Local Fellowship program is training early-career journalists from underrepresented communities to cover that year's municipal elections in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton.

Notable works

• 2019–2025 (self-reported)According to its own account, The Local has won 27 national journalism awards over its first six years, including seven National Magazine Awards, 15 Digital Publishing Awards, two Canadian Association of Journalists Awards, the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism, and a Press Freedom Award. It has received the Digital Publishing Awards' General Excellence prize for small publications in four of the past five years: 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.

• 2025 National Magazine & Digital Publishing AwardsExecutive editor Nicholas Hune-Brown won gold in Feature Writing for "Moss Park's Lost Years," and photographer Nick Kozak won gold in Photo Essay & Photojournalism for images accompanying "Another Year, Another Encampment, Another Eviction," a Brennan Doherty feature documenting Toronto's homeless encampments; that piece also won gold for Best Feature (Long) at the Digital Publishing Awards.

• 2025–2026After receiving a suspicious pitch, Hune-Brown investigated the past work of a freelance writer for his piece "Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism's AI Era." The investigation led four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, to remove articles from their websites, and the story was nominated for a 2026 National Magazine Award in Investigative Reporting.

Key personnel

• Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Tai Huynh

• Executive Editor Nicholas Hune-Brown

• Features Editor Inori Roy

• Visuals Editor Chloë Ellingson

• Senior Reporter Wency Leung

• Manager of Operations Craig Madho

• Board Chair Laura Quinn

Audience

The Local's journalism focuses on Toronto neighborhoods and social issues, including housing, transit, climate, education and labour. Content is distributed through a free email newsletter, four print and digital quarterly issues per year, and standalone features and investigations, without advertising or a subscription paywall.

Location and contact info

Legal Name The Local TO Publishing

Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Website https://thelocal.to