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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

We got overwhelming response to our redesign and 10th birthday issue last week. Here is a sampling:

Katherine Wright Pitts: 10 Yearsā€¦thatā€™s a long time to continually be the Best! #Congratulations! #articles #news #local

@noeldidla: Hearty congrats on ten ! Wish you many, many more Donna, Todd and staff, past and present ! #JFP turns 10

@biatweets: Nice article from Jackson Free Press about the strides made in Jacksonā€™s art community.

Islander Oyster House: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JFP!!

Laura Lillard: Happy 10th anniversary, JFP! Yā€™all are the best!

James Anderson: Great crewā€¦great publicationā€¦continue to continueā€¦we need you in our midst. ā€¦ You continue to be light in the wilderness. Rock on, yā€™all.

Rope Burns: Now, shoot for a Pulitzer!

Cat Leatherwood:  Iā€™m a film student at USM and Iā€™m always really happy to be able to read your film articles online.  I wish we had something similar down here on the coast.  Maybe someday soon!  Keep up the good work!

Melishia Grayson: Happy Birthday to Donna Ladd and the Jackson Free Press!! I am so proud of the work that they do, and the journalists they produce. #igetitonceaweek

Amy Haimerl: Happy birthday beautiful friends.

Jayne Jackson: I get it once a week!

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.