If someone would have told me a year ago that the RN&R would win a journalism award for a story about a pet-spider business, I would have literally laughed out loud.
But not only did Jason Sarna’s piece from Jan. 13, about local jumping-spider business Spider Stuff Co., win an award; it was the best business feature (among “urban,” i.e., news publications in Reno and Las Vegas) in the state, according to the judge(s) of the 2026 Nevada Press Foundation Awards of Excellence.
Here is the first portion of the piece, headlined “A tiny pet is trending: Spider Stuff Co. offers spiders for sale, handmade arachnid accoutrements and ‘spider parties’ in bars“:
Lauren Taylor, 35, was terrified of spiders.
Growing up, she thought they wanted to crawl all over her and bite her. This changed a few years ago, when she saw a Phidippus regius (or “regal”) jumping spider on social media.
“I was like, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Taylor told the RN&R.
The social media post prompted her to purchase a regal online. Unfortunately, the spider she was sent wasn’t a regal, so she had to repeat the online ordering process, which, according to Taylor, due to overnight shipping costs, isn’t cheap.
“I’m like, what am I even doing, spending hundreds of dollars on spiders?” Taylor said.
Her fear of arachnids quickly transformed into fascination and love. She made a cute home for her spiders and started selling homemade acorn hides (where the spiders can burrow and make a hammock) on Etsy. The acorn hides took off, and soon after that, Taylor started breeding spiders, which is how Spider Stuff Co. was born.
Taylor’s husband, Tom Hedblom, 41, recently came aboard full time to manage the photography, video, outreach and emails, and the two have been introducing people to the idea of jumping spiders as “cute, tiny pets.” In three years, business has grown from online-only sales to working reptile shows and conventions, and hosting local “spider parties” around Reno.
The RN&R won 12 awards in this year’s contest, which covered work from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026—which, considering that we’re competing with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the state’s other largest newsrooms, is a pretty decent haul. The awards were announced on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Nevada Press Foundation’s awards banquet at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas.
Here are our other 11 awards.
- Staff won first place in Advertising General Excellence.
- Dennis Wodzisz and Jimmy Boegle won first place for Page One Design / Cover Design.
- Frank X. Mullen won second place in the Feature Writing category for “Facing our darker history: As the feds censor narratives about racism, local officials tell the truth about Reno’s Chinatown and its government-ordered destruction” (Aug. 28, 2025).
- Mark Earnest won second place in the Health Reporting category for “The unraveling social safety net: Federal budget cuts are making it harder for locals in need to access health care, food and support services” (Oct. 30, 2025).
- Dennis Wodzisz and Jimmy Boegle won second place for Overall Design.
- Staff won third place in the Special Section or Campaign (Advertising) category for the Best of Northern Nevada 2025.
- Jessica Santina won third place in the Art and Culture Commentary category for her theater reviews.
- Kris Vagner won third place in the Business Feature Story category for “Food off the table: DOGE cut $1 billion in nutritional aid. What happens to the locals who provide and depend on those meals?” (April 24, 2025).
- Jimmy Boegle won third place in the Email Newsletter category for “From the Archives.”
- Frank X. Mullen won third place in the Environmental Reporting category for “Nature out of balance: Once a conservation success story, Nevada’s peregrine falcons are now disappearing” (Jan. 27, 2026).
- Staff won third place for Special Section (Editorial) for the Best of Northern Nevada 2025.
Congrats to all of our winners, as well as our friends at This Is Reno (15 awards), the Reno Gazette-Journal (10 awards), edible Reno-Tahoe (15 awards in the magazine category), Carson Now (12 awards in the rural category), Nevada Appeal (26 awards in the rural category), Record-Courier (16 awards in the rural category) and Sierra Nevada Ally (13 awards in the rural category).
—Jimmy Boegle
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