“The Recombobulation Area” Hauls In Multiple Milwaukee Press Club Awards

Madison, WI – (May 12, 2025) – Civic Media-owned The Recombobulation Area won six awards at the Milwaukee Press Club’s 2024 “Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism” competition. Awards included one gold, four silvers and one bronze honor. All of these awards came in the “Online Exclusively” category.

Since launching in 2019, The Recombobulation Area has won 19 awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, including four gold, nine silver and six bronze honors. This is the fourth consecutive year in which the publication has received a gold honor, and the most awards it has received in a single year.

The awards were announced Friday, May 9, at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.

Angela Lang, executive director at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) — and a regular contributor at The Recombobulation Area — won the Gold award for Best Single Editorial, Statement of Editorial Position or Opinion for her column, The tragedy and disappointment of the RNC in Milwaukee.

Dan Shafer, founder of The Recombobulation Area, won five awards in the 2024 competition, including four silver awards and one bronze. Categories and awards include:

• Silver:
• Best Blog: Dan Shafer, The Recombobulation Area
• Best Long Hard Feature Story: Dan Shafer, Joy and Desperation in the Fox Valley
• Best Single Editorial, Statement of Editorial Position or Opinion: Dan Shafer, It’s a new day in Wisconsin.’ Your votes made that happen”
• Best Business or Consumer Story or Series: Dan Shafer, SPECIAL REPORT: RNC bookings “underwhelming” and a “failure,” event venues and restaurants raise concerns
• Bronze:
• Best Multi-Story Coverage of a Single Feature Topic or Event: Dan Shafer, Wisconsin’s fight for new legislative maps

Shafer has now won a total of 23 Milwaukee Press Club awards dating back to 2011. Along with 16 at The Recombobulation Area, awards were won while on staff at the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine and ThirdCoast Digest.

Civic Media’s Earl Ingram was also honored by the Milwaukee Press Club, winning the Gold award for “Best Regularly-Scheduled Audio Program” for The Earl Ingram Show.

About The Recombobulation Area

The Recombobulation Area is an opinion column and online publication covering news and politics in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The Milwaukee-based publication features in-depth analysis, incisive commentary, original reporting, and more. Launched in 2019 as a part-time project by Shafer, The Recombobulation Area has grown to reach thousands of subscribers and millions of readers, and is now regularly featured online and on the radio as part of Civic Media.

About the Milwaukee Press Club

The Milwaukee Press Club is the oldest continuously operating press club in North America, formally established in 1885. See the full list of winners from this year’s professional and collegiate competitions here.

About Civic Media

Civic Media, a Public Benefit Corporation, is dedicated to providing quality broadcast and digital hometown radio focusing on local, regional, and state issues, covering the stories that are most relevant to the markets we serve. We believe radio plays a crucial role in the practice of democracy in our local communities, so we aim to provide programming that advances the understanding and engagement of its principles within our audience.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.