Announcing the 2026 Workhorse (Fake) Awards

Taia Pandolfi
5 hours ago
4 min read

The words "The 2026 Workhorse (Fake) Awards" are above a collage of 6 triangle tile photos featuring a variety of artists and organizations.

There are thousands of arts, culture, and nonprofit workers in Pittsburgh alone, running critical social services, developing life-changing performances, and generally making our community a better place to live. Very few of these hard-working, creative people get a smidge of the kudos they deserve — which is exactly why we created the Workhorse (Fake) Awards.

Each August, we select the best work we’ve seen in the past year and shout it from the rooftops. There’s no pay-to-play or backroom dealing (and there’s no physical award or cash prize). We seek out good work, schedule a meeting, hash out our favorites for the year, and write this blog. Zip-zap-zop.

Here’s to this year’s winners (and all the winners in our hearts). You are everything to us.

Pennsylvania Women Work

Award: Masterclass in Microcopy: Powerful CTAs

Calls to Action (CTAs) are a thing most people would never think to give an award to. And yet, you could make a relatively good argument that CTAs keep the world spinning — they help people navigate buildings, follow instructions, and sign up for just about everything from health insurance to your community’s annual pool pass. And yet, we often see websites that miss CTA buttons entirely, leaving users stranded and wondering how to take the next step. Pennsylvania Women Work’s website doesn't just have buttons in all the right places; they could write a masterclass in microcopy (marketing nerd term for just…really short written content). Rather than overused phrases like “learn more” or “click here,” their site invites you to “make an impact today” and “change lives” and “join our club.” We give them a 10/10 for their use of meaningful, effective calls to action that inform, entice, and speak directly to their mission.

Radiant Hall

Award: Bangin’ Artist Infrastructure

Radiant Hall sources under- or disused spaces (of which there are many in the region!) and transforms them into artist studios. Independent artists and creative entrepreneurs have thin margins and need very specific space to do what they do, so as two people whose hearts belong to the arts, we love to see innovative solutions to keep artists here in Pittsburgh. Radiant Hall recently expanded into downtown Pittsburgh for their fourth location, showing that this is a business model that works and can expand. We’re thrilled to see more investment in infrastructure for artists and we want to emphasize how hard and important this work is. Thank you to Radiant Hall’s excellent team. We hope to see more investment by foundations and civic leaders in the arts to keep work like this moving.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Award: Simple and Effective Pause-Worthy Meta Ad

An image of a light-skinned hand holding a smartphone. On the phone screen, the PSO's ad: an image of the symphony playing, with text that reads "Hey. Wait. Take a break from scroling. Unmute and listen to Tchaikovsky for 30 seconds."

Normally, we reserve awards for under-celebrated orgs and individuals, but a social media ad from the PSO literally made Jackie stop her (doom)scroll and that kind of power cannot be denied. In just 30 seconds, this ad provided respite from the chaos of the feed and genuinely influenced Jackie, who clicked right through to upcoming concerts. Most of the time, arts orgs run salesy ads littered with “buy a ticket now.” The beauty of this ad was its simplicity: (another) CTA to “Stop and listen,” with a calming picture of Heinz Hall and 30 seconds of actual music performed by our Grammy-award-winning symphony. And the best part? Any music organization with a minute of recorded audio could replicate it. Bellissima.

Pittsburgh Progress

Award: People-Powered Publication

If you’ve paid one iota of attention to the Post-Gazette’s many headlines in the last few years, you’ll know that local journalists successfully carried out the longest strike in newspaper history. After the PG was recently bought, many of the journos who had led the strike were unceremoniously laid off. The fruit of this saga is a new publication, the Pittsburgh Progress, which is the region’s first co-op newspaper. The business model means that worker-owners and community-owners have a stake in the way the Progress covers the news (and how that coverage might influence the politics, resources, and narratives of this region). We’re delighted to see this outcome and can’t wait to pitch some stories to their arts writers.

Geometry of Play by Sharmistha Ray

Award: World’s Most Fabulous Pickleball Court

An overhead view of the pickleball court. The whole court is a very colorful, bold and geometric design, with the white court lines over it. It's surrounded by black asphalt with curvy white lines, and stylish wooden lawn furniture.

Run, don’t walk, to Arts Landing to see the stunning new pickleball courts that grace this new public spot. If you’ve never worked behind the scenes on public art, let us highlight something: it not only needs to be engaging and (hopefully) beautiful — it also has to be functional, especially in a climate that gets a lot of all four seasons. This could’ve been a standard pickleball court, but instead, we Pittsburghers get a gorgeous art piece that can be enjoyed from ground level or the many high rises that surround Arts Landing. It’s the best example of art + function. We are delighted.

Frontline DIGNITY

Award: Living the Mission

Our final award goes to a nonprofit that has shown through every training, resource kit, and social media post what it means to truly live out your mission. As ICE has continued to target Black and Brown community members across Western PA, Frontline DIGNITY has mobilized, trained, and effectively organized thousands of volunteers to provide support. This has happened amidst an epidemic of fear and hopelessness that kept a lot of us stuck in our homes, worrying, rather than out on the streets, witnessing, documenting, and using our agency to disrupt harm. From restaurant-specific trainings that prepare workers who are likely to be targeted to know-your-rights resources that help people advocate for themselves and each other, Frontline DIGNITY is living the work. Thank you.

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