The Overlook has been named a finalist for New LION Business of the Year, a national award recognizing young independent news organizations working toward financial, operational, and journalistic sustainability.

The Overlook is one of four finalists for the award, alongside COYOTE Media Collective in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pittsburgh-based Informup, and La Conner Community News in Washington state. The category is open to LION Publishers members founded after Jan. 1, 2024.

LION Publishers, a national association for independent news businesses, received 232 submissions for its 2026 Sustainability Awards. Forty-five member organizations were selected as finalists across 10 categories.

In naming The Overlook a finalist, LION highlighted the newsroom’s public-service reporting on local elections, a prolonged water outage, housing conditions, public safety, local government, and cultural issues. The organization also cited the community support that allowed The Overlook to hire its first full-time reporter and expand its coverage.

The Overlook launched in February 2025 as a nonprofit newsroom serving communities across the Catskills.

Winners will be announced during the Independent News Sustainability Summit, held Sept. 9–11 in San Diego.