The Northwest Herald is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

The Northwest Herald is the flagship title of Shaw Media, whose corporate headquarters are shared with the paper's offices.

On March 12, 1989, the Northwest Herald added a Sunday edition and became McHenry County's first hometown, seven-day newspaper.

The practice, called zoning, ensured that readers would have the most local news product available to them on the front page of their paper.

After five years as a seven-day paper, the Northwest Herald won its first award for excellence from the Illinois Press Association in 1994.