As 2018 comes to a close, we are profoundly grateful for journalists and newsroom staff around the country whose work has been a lifeline for communities, revealed corruption and lifted up the stories of local people day after day.

We recognize that many of you have done all of this in the face of deep economic challenges, political attacks, ongoing harassment and even violence. When we thought about how to end the year, we thought the best way to recognize all the important work that has happened would be to link to as much of it as we could. So for the last Local Fix of the year we are sharing a list of lists. Did we miss one? Tweet it to @thelocalnewslab.

If you find something new, or something you love, in the links below take a moment to thank the people behind it. Hold each other up as we enter 2019. The world is stronger thanks to your work and we are all stronger together.

• “In every corner of the U.S. this year, local reporters went to work every day looking to expose wrongdoing in their communities.” In an epic Twitter thread Joseph Cranney rounds up what they found 
• Predictions for 2019 focused on local news – NiemanLab
• 29 Times Nonprofit Journalism Made A Difference In 2018 – NewsMatch
• 10 things the Center for Media Engagement learned in 2018 (and how they can help your newsroom) – Center for Media Engagement
• Nine of the best journalism collaborations of 2018 – Center for Cooperative Media 
• The top 25 news photos of 2018 – The Atlantic 
• 18 striking research findings from 2018  – Pew Research Center Fact Tank
• The year in press freedom: Attacks, arrests, and more – Columbia Journalism Review
• 15 media leaders from across Europe share their recipes for success around newsroom transformation, leadership, & community engagement – European Journalism Centre 
• The funnel, saying no and other things we tried to figure out in 2018 – Local Edition  

We’ll be back January 11. Until then, have a great holiday,

Josh and Teresa
@jcstearns, @gteresa

The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which invests in innovations and institutions that are reinventing local media and expanding the public square. Disclosure: Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund, you can find a full list of the organizations we support on our website.