Innovations in media: Kerr County Lead

Relentlessly creative is how I describe Louis Amestoy, my former compadre at The Bakersfield Californian. Louis is passionate about local media and is constantly unearthing new ways to serve readers and advertisers in new ways. 

Over the past two decades, he’s been a leader in leveraging live video of all kinds into other content streams. A recent example of this comes via the Kerr County Lead, the 5-year-old digital-first media company he founded and operates in Kerrville, Texas. 

Amestoy is a multimedia master who hosts an hour-long livestreamed video show on Facebook every weekday morning in addition to producing a wide variety of stories, photos and video for his robust community-news site. 

Of particular note for me was Amestoy’s production of a glossy 160-page, perfect-bound “2025 in Review” magazine featuring a variety of original content, but with a primary focus on the tragic flooding in Kerr County that killed 119 people on July 4. The issue — with the overarching cover headline “Our duty is simple: Remember” — is dominated by a hard-hitting analysis of the flood and its aftermath, and a celebration of those who lost their lives. But other content spotlights the many positive things that occurred in the market during 2025. Amid the tragedy,

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Capture Kern wins EPpy award

Got some good news today: The Bakersfield Californian's Capture Kern County project earned an EPpy award for excellence in journalism.

Capture Kern was among four finalists in the ungainly category of "Best Crowd Sourcing or Citizen Journalism with under 250,000 unique monthly visitors." Other finalists in that category were Fort Wayne Newspapers, Deseret News and the City University of New York School of Journalism's partnership with The New York Times. Here's a complete list of winners in the competition, which is sponsored by Editor & Publisher magazine (hence the EPpy award). 

Capture Kern was recognized for its wide reach and celebration of all things Kern County. In short, the project has, to date, enticed more than 1,200 photographers to submit more than 25,000 photos representing life in our county, and then allowing thousands of people to vote and comment on those photos, with the best and most popular being published in a 128-page full-color book. 

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