The "Nottingham Evening Post" referred to them as "the high priests of Nottingham culture". In 2009, LeftLion won the 'Writing and Publishing' award at the Nottingham Creative Business Awards, in a ceremony held at the Nottingham Council House on 7 October 2009. They were also runners-up for the award of Creative Business of the Year. In 2012 The Guardian cited LeftLion as being partially responsible for an "artistic boom" in Nottingham in an interview with Game of Thrones actor Joe Dempsie who also said: "It's a great paper. It's played a massive part in Nottingham's sense of creative identity right now." In 2013, the publication celebrated its tenth anniversary with BBC's "East Midlands Today" running a feature interview, and BBC Online running a photo gallery. In 2018 LeftLion celebrated their fifteenth birthday by releasing their 100th printed issue and then a book titled LeftLion: 100 Covers, which gathered together the cover artwork from their back catalogue. LeftLion also sponsors free music nights at venues in the city featuring bands from the area, a weekly pub quiz and has produced a series of podcasts and live literature events. During 2006 LeftLion worked with "A Drop In The Ocean", a citywide music festival that raised £27,200 for charity. Musical acts and artists that have played at LeftLion events include Liam Bailey, Jake Bugg, Thepetebox, Natalie Duncan, Amusement Parks on Fire, Thepetebox, Lightspeed Champion, The Hellset Orchestra, Love Ends Disaster!, Rapunzel MAP, Bent, Crazy Penis, The Smears, Alice Rock, Model Morning, Old Basford, The Elementz, Cappo, The Deltarays and Kids In Tracksuits.