OKPOLICY.ORG
The Oklahoma Policy Institute received five national awards for its work during the past year, and longtime Legislative and Outreach Director Angela Monson was honored with a lifetime achievement award during a Dec. 3 ceremony.
OK Policy received five Graphies awards in the eight award categories in the competition:
- Best Outreach or Campaign Plan, Event, or Product: OK Policy and Together Oklahoma’s 2025 Listening Sessions
- Best Donor Solicitation: Five Reasons Not to Donate to OK Policy
- Best Data Visualization: Dashboard for the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council
- Best Short Written Product: “You Shouldn’t Have to Touch a Hot Stove Twice: Triggered Tax Cuts are Bad for Oklahoma”
- Best Special Project or Innovation: Oklahoma Death Penalty Tracker
The Graphies honor work created within a nationwide network of more than 40 independent, nonprofit research and policy organizations focused on state-level policy issues. Winners were honored during a special event at SPP’s biennial conference in Dallas.
“I’m incredibly proud to see our team recognized for excellence, especially because these recognitions come from our peers nationwide. It’s a powerful reminder that our team does excellent work and that our work matters,” said OK Policy’s Executive Director Shiloh Kantz. “At the same time, we know these awards aren’t the finish line – they’re fuel for the work ahead. We’re grateful to the individuals and organizations who have supported us to help create change in Oklahoma. We’re taking a moment to enjoy the accolades, but remain committed to staying focused on the important work ahead.”
Lifetime Achievement Award for Angela Monson
Angela Monson served as OK Policy’s Legislative and Outreach Director from 2020 until this fall, when she retired from full-time work. Her remarkable career spans more than five decades with influence felt across numerous sectors: state policy, politics, health, education, community advocacy, and public service.
Monson began her trailblazing legislative career in 1990 when she was first elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives and later to the State Senate. Ever a trailblazer, she broke barriers as the first Black woman to serve as an assistant majority floor leader in Oklahoma, and she was the first Black woman – and first Oklahoman – to preside over the National Conference of State Legislatures.
During her five years with OK Policy, she expanded our advocacy efforts, built a team of statewide organizers, and mentored every staff member. Her guidance reflects the belief that persistent advocacy drives progress, echoing Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Graphies Awards
- Best Outreach or Campaign Plan, Event, or Product
OK Policy’s 2025 Listening Sessions and Statewide Survey campaign brought Oklahomans’ voices to the forefront of the policy conversation. Over the course of two months, staff traveled to eight communities across the state – both metro and rural areas – to hear directly from residents about the issues that shape their lives. There was also an online survey for people who were unable to attend the in-person meetings. Following the sessions, OK Policy produced a statewide written report that synthesized the most common findings across regions, incorporating both qualitative insights and quantitative data from the survey. OK Policy staff use these findings to identify areas of need and help shape our efforts moving forward.
- Best Donor Solicitation
“Five Reasons Not to Donate to OK Policy” turned traditional year-end giving appeals on their head with humor and irony. The multi-channel campaign reframed support for OK Policy as an act of defiance against misinformation and apathy and sought to engage donors and audiences through wit and message clarity.
- Best Data Visualization
To help provide transparency about the Oklahoma County jail’s operations, OK Policy partnered with the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council (CJAC) to develop a clear, public-facing dashboard. Publicly launched in summer 2025, the interactive dashboard lets families, advocates, policymakers, and taxpayers see exactly how many people are in jail, along with other data points like why they’re there, and for how long. This “jailtracker” system holds the system accountable by updating daily so trends can be more easily spotted and officials can spot barriers in the system to address them more quickly.
- Best Short Written Product (3 pages or less)
“You Shouldn’t Have to Touch a Hot Stove Twice: Triggered Tax Cuts are Bad for Oklahoma,” written by OK Policy’s Fiscal Policy Analyst Aanahita Ervin, examined state lawmakers’ latest attempt to implement triggered tax cuts in spring 2025. The state had implemented automatic tax triggers before, in 2006 and 2014; both times failing spectacularly. OK Policy published the article as other statehouses across the nation considered similar legislation. As a result, editors at Governing asked to reprint the article – in its entirety – for a national audience.
- Best Special Project or Innovation
OK Policy’s Research Team developed the Oklahoma Death Penalty Tracker in response to the absence of a searchable public database of individuals on death row in the state. The tracker provides a dynamic, publicly available visualization of Oklahoma’s active death row cases, executions, and commutations since the state resumed executions in 2021 following a six-year, unofficial moratorium after the state had difficulty in securing drugs that matched the state’s legal lethal injection protocol. By combining interactive maps, case-level data, and contextual explanations, OK Policy’s Death Penalty Tracker helps advocates and everyday Oklahomans better understand how the death penalty is applied – including its geographic concentration and racial disparities. This innovation turns opaque state records into a living, digestible dataset that invites public engagement and accountability.
