Hannah Dreier and the staff of The New York Times Win the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Hannah Dreier and the staff of The New York Times are the winners of the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for their series “Exposed and Expendable,” published by The New York Times. Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs unveiled the winner of the prize live at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony Thursday night in the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School.
As wildfires swept through Los Angeles in January 2025, New York Times reporter Hannah Dreier noticed something strange – firefighters were working bare-faced for days on end, while residents were told to wear masks or stay indoors to protect themselves from dangerous air pollutants. In over 400 interviews, public records requests to eight agencies, an analysis of thousands of pages of individual medical and service records, and the creation of a database tracking every national crew deployment over the past two decades, Dreier discovered the dramatic and lasting consequences that firefighters were facing from fighting wildfires without protection, and that the Forest Service had understood the dangers of smoke for decades, but downplayed the risk.
As a result of the reporting, Congress passed a bipartisan law, signed in December 2025, that requires the government to pay $450,000 to wildland firefighters who become disabled or die from smoke-related cancers. Five additional bills prompted by this reporting are still pending at the federal level, and it has also spurred state-level spending and regulation in California, as well as new OSHA and Forest Service protections for wildland firefighters, including the reversal of the Forest Service’s decades-long ban on masks.
Announcing the winner of the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, Power Struggle explains why states in the Pacific Northwest — despite their portrayal as leaders in green energy — rank near the bottom of the country for the growth of renewable power. This reporting team broke down green energy production and its relationship to the nation’s electrical grid and explained how the Northwest region’s electrical grid was incapable of hooking up all the new wind and solar farms that are needed to reduce fossil fuel use. The series was eye-opening to local lawmakers and served as a catalyst for reform.
“Americans are used to hearing about problems but they are seldom given the chance to learn why such problems exist and what can be done to fix them,” said Shorenstein Director Nancy Gibbs. “In Power Struggle, reporters Monica Samayoa and Tony Schick gave us a master class in explanatory reporting – pulling original data, identifying concrete barriers and agency limitations, and providing historical context to pinpoint exactly where and why Oregon and Washington had fallen so far behind in reaching their green energy goals. What emerged was a clear picture of a complex issue and a roadmap of viable solutions for policymakers to pursue.”
The selection committee for the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting includes journalists Beth Daley and Debbie Cenziper, technology and social impact leader Kang-Xing “KX” Jin, technologist and international security expert Leisel Bogan, data scientist and entrepreneur Mike Greenfield, and media consultant and former news executive Richard Tofel. Judges recused themselves from voting on entries from their employers.
The committee also selected three finalists for this year’s Explanatory Prize for their exemplary contributions to public understanding of government in the United States.
Finalists for the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting:
AMERICAN INERTIA Patrick McGeehan, Winnie Hu, Todd Heisler, Junho Lee, Mika Gröndahl, Helmuth Rosales, Marco Hernandez, Peter S. Goodman, Loren Elliott, Conor Dougherty, Gabriela Bhaskar, Michael Kimmelman | The New York Times
“American Inertia is powerful explanatory journalism, translating a sprawling culture of delay and dysfunction into reporting of exceptional clarity, depth, and public value. The stories are urgent and elegantly written. The visual storytelling is especially effective, helping readers move through complicated ideas with ease and clarity. This series is a model of how ambitious journalism can illuminate not only what is broken, but why.” – Debbie Cenziper
“The New Energy Crisis is an impressive and rigorously researched series that clearly illustrates the role of government and public policy amid the extraordinary strain data center growth and AI-driven computing demand are placing on the nation’s electrical infrastructure, and the impact that strain is likely to have on the environment, economy, and Americans’ daily lives.” – Leisel Bogan
WHERE THE SCHOOLS WENT Pallavi Kottamasu, Sarah Gibble-Laska, Nathalie Escudero, Kate Malekoff | The Branch
“The series does an exceptional job using research and data coupled with qualitative insights to help people understand the factors behind changes in New Orleans’ public school system pre- and post- Katrina. It weaves in nuanced “pull back the curtain” analysis of specific educational policy choices (e.g. local vs. state control; charter schools; how — and how much — to hold local schools accountable for outcomes) and their trade-offs. Even though public schools have had and still have challenges, one leaves the series more informed about possible solutions and with hope that these challenges can be addressed.” – Kang-Xing Jin
About the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting seeks to honor and inspire excellent reporting that illuminates the “how” of governance in the United States – how public policy is implemented, how government systems and processes work, and what citizens can better understand about what government does. The winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting receives $15,000, to be awarded directly to the winning journalist or team.
Financial support for the Goldsmith Awards Program is provided by an annual grant from the Goldsmith Fund of the Greenfield Foundation. The program is administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. To learn more about the Goldsmith Awards visit goldsmithwards.org.
Announcing the finalists for the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is proud to announce the six finalists for the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The Goldsmith Prize, first awarded in 1993 and funded by a gift from the Greenfield Foundation, honors the best public service investigative journalism that has made an impact on local, state, or federal public policy or the practice of politics in the United States. Finalists receive $10,000, and the winner – to be announced at the April 9 ceremony – receives $25,000. All prize monies go to the journalist or team that produced the reporting.
“If there were any doubt about the continuing strength and impact of investigative reporting, this year’s finalists should silence the skeptics,” said Shorenstein Director Nancy Gibbs. “Because of their tireless work, Congressional committees held hearings, law enforcement launched or reopened investigations, and lawmakers introduced legislation and passed new laws. They have exposed fraud and corruption at every level of government and set a higher standard for transparency and accountability.”
2026 GOLDSMITH PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING FINALISTS:
Abuse of Power: Beyond the Goon Squad Brian Howey, Nate Rosenfield, Mukta Joshi, Jerry Mitchell, Steph Quinn, Sarah Cohen | Mississippi Today, The New York Times In 2023, the team at Mississippi Today and The New York Times uncovered that, for a generation, sheriff’s deputies known as the “Goon Squad” tortured suspected drug users across Rankin County, Mississippi, beating, burning and waterboarding their victims until they shared information. That reporting prompted a Justice Department investigation and a new state law increasing police oversight. But, knowing that the full story was still unfolding, and in the face of mounting resistance and intimidation, the local and national collaboration continued reporting on the sheriff’s department. In 2025 they uncovered even more extensive abuses: a sheriff allegedly stealing inmate labor from local taxpayers for personal profit, a likely murder in the jail that had been written off as an accident, evidence of years of brutality in the jail, including a video showing guards shocking an intellectually disabled man with an electrified vest, and widespread abuse of Tasers by police across the state. This reporting led Mississippi lawmakers to propose two statewide Taser oversight laws, at least three investigations by state authorities and two probes by the FBI, a re-opened murder investigation, and several candidates indicating they will run against the sitting sheriff in 2027.
Exposed and Expendable Hannah Dreier and the Staff of The New York Times | The New York Times As wildfires swept through Los Angeles in January 2025, New York Times reporter Hannah Dreier noticed something strange – firefighters were working bare-faced for days on end, while residents were told to wear masks or stay indoors to protect themselves from dangerous air pollutants. In over 400 interviews, public records requests to eight agencies, an analysis of thousands of pages of individual medical and service records, and the creation of a database tracking every national crew deployment over the past two decades, Dreier discovered the dramatic and lasting consequences that firefighters were facing from fighting wildfires without protection, and that the Forest Service had understood the dangers of smoke for decades, but downplayed the risk. As a result of the reporting, Congress passed a bipartisan law, signed in December 2025, that requires the government to pay $450,000 to wildland firefighters who become disabled or die from smoke-related cancers. Five additional bills prompted by this reporting are still pending at the federal level, and it has also spurred state-level spending and regulation in California, as well as new OSHA and Forest Service protections for wildland firefighters, including the reversal of the Forest Service’s decades-long ban on masks.
Hope Florida Alexandra Glorioso, Lawrence Mower, Justin Garcia | Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald Hope Florida was a much-touted program held up as an alternative to welfare by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and founded by his wife, Casey. Then, reporters from the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald found that it had almost no evidence of success, and the program’s charity arm, the Hope Florida Foundation, had received a mysterious $10 million donation from a state settlement and was refusing to turn over its tax records, in violation of IRS rules. Working against state agencies that refused to publicly release records, they found that the $10 million came from a Medicaid settlement, and the charity was used to divert nearly all of it to a political committee controlled by the governor’s chief of staff. The team also painstakingly tracked billing codes across three state databases to reveal the money was part of a larger campaign to siphon more than $35 million in taxpayer dollars to political activities.As a result of the reporting, a criminal investigation was opened, and Hope Florida, once a darling of the Governor’s agenda, lost state funding and was not enshrined into state law – a move the DeSantises had pushed for.
President Trump’s Self-Enrichment Eric Lipton, David Yaffe-Bellany, Ben Protess, Tripp Mickle, Bradley Hope, Paul Mozur, Andrea Fuller, Sharon LaFraniere, Seamus Hughes, Kenneth P. Vogel, Karen Yourish, Cecilia Kang, Ryan Mac, Theodore Schleifer, Charlie Smart, Elena Shao | The New York Times Through painstaking reporting, The New York Times exposed the level to which President Trump has used the office of the President to enrich himself and his friends, to degrees never before seen in the U.S. Presidency. The Times broke open the connection between an agreement to allow valuable U.S-developed computer chips to be exported to the United Arab Emirates and a U.A.E. business deal using the Trump family’s crypto firm, giving it a revenue stream that could be worth tens of millions of dollars annually. Through FEC filings, interviews, and other reporting The Times also built a database of 346 donors who gave significantly to the President’s personal priorities, including his inaugural committee, the White House ballroom project, his family’s crypto firm, and numerous other Trump-supported groups and projects. The team then investigated each of these donors to understand how they may have benefited from the President or his administration, creating a web of payments and favors all made clear to the public for the first time. As a result of the reporting, several members of Congress have introduced legislation to curtail these kinds of self-enriching efforts, and numerous officials and watchdog groups have called for investigations and ethics inquiries.
RX Roulette: The FDA’s Dangerous Gamble on America’s Drugs Debbie Cenziper, Megan Rose, Brandon Roberts | ProPublica Reporters from ProPublica uncovered how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has quietly allowed certain medications to flow into the country from known substandard overseas factories and failed to routinely test these drugs for safety or quality, putting the public at risk. The series also revealed that basic information about where generic drugs are made is fragmented, obscured, and effectively inaccessible to consumers, even though generics account for about 90% of U.S. prescriptions. The team, which included members of ProPublica’s data and news apps teams and over a dozen students from the Medill Investigative Lab, filed almost 50 FOIA requests and sued the FDA to obtain records, ultimately constructing a database of 40,000 generic medications and their factory inspection histories – the first comprehensive list of drugs shipped from banned factories. Citing the investigation, leaders of the Senate Special Committee on Aging proposed bipartisan reforms and demanded more testing, transparency, and a full accounting of exemptions. The FDA commissioner pledged changes and a tougher stance on foreign plants.
VA Disability Benefits Investigation Craig Whitlock, Lisa Rein, Caitlin Gilbert | The Washington Post This Washington Post investigation uncovered systemic fraud and abuse in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ $193 billion disability benefits program, revealing how some veterans exaggerated minor or treatable conditions to obtain compensation. VA officials were aware of the program’s vulnerabilities but effectively looked away as problems mounted. After the VA and Justice Department denied their FOIA requests, The Post sued, ultimately forcing the release of more than 10,000 pages of documents, photos, and videos, plus spreadsheets tracking approvals for nearly 1,000 medical conditions over a decade. The team relied exclusively on public records and on-the-record interviews and published extensive source material so readers could independently assess their findings. Within days of publication, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a special hearing where witnesses acknowledged the existence of fraud and serious flaws within the disability program. Both the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees have pledged to hold more hearings on their findings this year.
Jeffrey Goldberg to be honored with the 2026 Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism
Each year, the Shorenstein Center presents the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism to recognize outstanding contributions to the field and honor work that has enriched our political discourse and our society. This year’s winner is Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, and moderator of Washington Week With The Atlantic on PBS.
“Jeffrey has steered a storied institution through a period of immense disruption and elevated The Atlantic as a critical resource for investigation, analysis, and ideas,” said Shorenstein Director Nancy Gibbs. “At a time when the entire industry is navigating new ethical and editorial challenges, Jeffrey’s excellence and enterprise both as a journalist and editorial leader serves as a beacon for us all.”
2026 Goldsmith Career Award Winner Jeffrey Goldberg:
Jeffrey Goldberg is the editor in chief of The Atlantic and is the moderator of Washington Week With The Atlantic on PBS. He joined The Atlantic in 2007 as a national correspondent and in 2016 was named editor in chief, the 15th person to serve as editor in The Atlantic’s 168-year history. During his editorship, The Atlantic has set new audience and subscription records, and won its first-ever Pulitzer Prizes. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, The Atlantic received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence from the American Society of Magazine Editors, the top award in the industry.
Before joining The Atlantic, Goldberg served as the Middle East correspondent and then the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. Earlier in his career, he was a writer for The New York Times Magazine. He began his career as a police reporter for The Washington Post. Goldberg is the author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror and On Heroism:McCain, Milley, Mattis, and the Cowardice of Donald Trump. A former fellow of the American Academy in Berlin, he also served as a public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and as the distinguished visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Goldberg is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Magazine Award for Reporting; the Daniel Pearl Award for Reporting; the Overseas Press Club’s award for human-rights reporting; the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Prize for best investigative reporting.
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The Goldsmith Awards, founded in 1991 and funded by a gift from the Greenfield Foundation, strives to foster a more insightful and spirited public debate about government, politics and the press, and to demonstrate the essential role of a free press in a thriving democracy.
Learn more at GoldsmithAwards.org.
Announcing the semifinalists for the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Our judging committee was tasked with reviewing over 100 entries for this year’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The following semifinalists are the top 30 entries that our judges deemed to be of extremely high quality and in keeping with the Prize’s criteria for impact on US government, public policy, or the practice of politics. In the coming weeks, the finalists for the Goldsmith Prize will be announced from this esteemed group, with the winner announced at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 9.
The semifinalists for the 2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting are listed here in alphabetical order, with links to the original reporting. Short descriptions were submitted as part of the entry.
2026 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Semifinalists:
Abuse of Power: Beyond the Goon Squad Brian Howey, Nate Rosenfield, Mukta Joshi, Jerry Mitchell, Steph Quinn, Sarah Cohen Mississippi Today, The New York Times A Mississippi sheriff survived a police brutality scandal, but reporters who kept on the story exposed a reign of terror throughout his department and abuses that spread across the state.
Broken Rehab Jordan Rau, Irena Hwang KFF Health News KFF Health News investigates where rehab falls short, leading to severe or even life-threatening injuries and exorbitant costs at specialized health care facilities.
Burned Susie Neilson, Megan Fan Munce, Sara DiNatale The San Francisco Chronicle California’s largest home insurers use faulty algorithms and hidden cost-cutting schemes to drastically underpay policyholders after wildfires, exposing them to toxic contaminants, prolonged displacement and financial crisis.
Cancer Capitalism Robert Langreth, Tanaz Meghjani, Caleb Melby, Anna Edney, John Tozzi, Rachael Dottle, Josyana Joshua, Henry Baker, Mathieu Benhamou Bloomberg News How cancer drugs have become a wildly lucrative business not just for pharma companies but hospitals and doctors, often without extending patients’ lives while exposing them to toxic harms and financial stress.
Caught in the Crackdown Claire Healy, Ana Claudia Chacin, Shirsho Dasgupta, Churchill Ndonwie, David Goodhue, Ana Ceballos, Ben Wieder, Verónica Egui Brito, Syra Ortiz Blanes Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times As Florida waged an unprecedented crackdown on immigration to support the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign, this reporting team exposed inhumane conditions and published exclusive reports on the immigrants and citizens whose lives were changed by the state’s policies.
Deadly Dust Michael Sallah, Mike Wereschagin, Jimmy Cloutier, Anavi Prakash, Jessie Nguyen, Victoria Malis, Tianyi Wang Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Northwestern University’s Medill Investigative Lab During the worst epidemic of black lung disease in a generation, the Mine Safety and Health Administration – the federal agency entrusted to protect miners – failed at nearly every level, from missed inspections of mines and gaps in detecting dangerous levels of coal dust, to failing to crack down on operators when the dust levels soared beyond the bounds of safety.
Death in Custody Daja E. Henry, Mina Corpuz, Jerry Mitchell, Grant McLaughlin, Joseph Neff, Doug Livingston, Brittany Hailer, Mark Puente, Ilica Mahajan The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today, Clarion Ledger, The Mississippi Link, Albany Times-Union and Investigative Post This reporting team exposed how killings and fatal neglect behind bars are minimized or ignored nationwide, revealing the prison system’s failure to stop preventable deaths.
Exposed and Expendable Hannah Dreier and the Staff of the New York Times The New York Times This investigation uncovered decades of government failure that exposed wildfire fighters to toxic smoke, with many falling ill and dying; the government knew the risk but banned them from wearing masks.
Exposing misconduct in L.A. County’s historic $4-billion sex abuse settlement Rebecca Ellis Los Angeles Times A series of investigations uncovered allegations of fraud, unethical behavior and potentially illegal conduct by a law firm at the center of a record $4-billion settlement with Los Angeles County over sexual abuse in government-run facilities, prompting the district attorney’s office to launch a criminal probe and politicians to push for changes to state law.
Failed to Death Joaquin Palomino, Cynthia Dizikes The San Francisco Chronicle This reporting team showed how California is committing more and more people to psychiatric hospitals run by for-profit companies, with devastating results.
Hidden at Home Ashley Balcerzak, Jean Rimbach NorthJersey.com / The Record In New Jersey’s $1.5 billion group home system for adults with developmental disabilities, the state fails to act against poorly performing providers and does not investigate all unexpected deaths, leaving a system where abuse and neglect are widespread and residents die in preventable ways due to poor care.
Hope Florida Alexandra Glorioso, Lawrence Mower, Justin Garcia Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald This investigation showed how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis secretly steered more than $35 million in taxpayer dollars to fight his political battles.
Housing Hustle: A KARE 11 Recovery Inc. Investigation A.J. Lagoe, Kelly Dietz, Gary Knox, Steve Eckert KARE-TV KARE 11’s “Housing Hustle”investigation drove sweeping state reforms and waves of federal probes and charges as it exposed a massive, organized fraud scheme within Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program – a Medicaid-funded safety net meant to help people with disabilities and those facing homelessness find and keep housing.
ICE and Abortions: What Police Really Use Flock Cameras For Joseph Cox, Jason Koebler 404 Media This investigation revealed how local cops tapped into a nationwide network of AI-enabled cameras and license plate readers on behalf of ICE, often breaking the law.
Invisible children – How Maryland lost track of its most vulnerable Jessica Calefati, Lee O. Sanderlin The Baltimore Banner Reporters at The Baltimore Banner exposed Maryland’s repeated failure to properly track deaths from child abuse or neglect, prompting officials to overhaul the way these fatalities are documented and studied in hopes of preventing future tragedies.
Jailed and Pregnant Mackenzie Mays, Jon Schuppe, Bloomberg Law, NBC News Pregnant women say their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth in county jail cells, according to a yearlong Bloomberg Law and NBC News investigation that had an immediate impact.
Killer Train Daniel Rivero, Brittany Wallman, Joshua Ceballos, Aaron Leibowitz, Susan Merriam, Shradha Dinesh, Allison Beck WLRN News, Miami Herald A team of reporters revealed that more than 190 people have been killed in crashes with Brightline trains since 2017, making it the deadliest major passenger train in the nation, even as its private owner has received nearly $500 million in taxpayer funding while safeguards continue to lag.
L.A. firestorms: Uncovering how government failed the public Alene Tchekmedyian, Paul Pringle, Tony Briscoe, Terry Castleman, Rebecca Ellis, Sean Greene, Noah Haggerty, Ian James, Dakota Smith, Hayley Smith Los Angeles Times After January’s catastrophic Eaton and Palisades fires killed 31 and leveled two communities, the L.A. Times exposed systemic failures in firefighting, evacuations and cleanup.
President Trump’s Self-Enrichment Eric Lipton, David Yaffe-Bellany, Ben Protess, Tripp Mickle, Bradley Hope, Paul Mozur, Andrea Fuller, Sharon LaFraniere, Seamus Hughes, Kenneth P. Vogel, Karen Yourish, Cecelia Kang, Ryan Mac, Theodore Schleifer, Charlie Smart, Elena Shao The New York Times This investigative series revealed the scope of President Trump’s enrichment of himself, along with his patrons and business partners.
RX Roulette: The FDA’s Dangerous Gamble on America’s Drugs Debbie Cenziper, Megan Rose, Brandon Roberts ProPublica A secret group inside the Food and Drug Administration allowed dangerous drugmakers formally banned from the U.S. market to continue selling generic drugs to unsuspecting Americans, one in a series of failures to protect the public from unsafe or ineffective medication.
Spotlight: Snitch City Dugan Arnett, Andrew Ryan, Brendan McCarthy, Kristin Nelson, Max Green The Boston Globe Spotlight: Snitch City – a six-part serialized podcast and multimedia series from The Globe Spotlight Team – uncovered rampant police misconduct and explored the troubling, clandestine world of confidential informants.
The Alabama Solution Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman, Beth Shelburne, Christopher Izor, Gabe Murray, Page Marsella Alabama Film Project, HBO Documentary THE ALABAMA SOLUTION, a documentary feature, follows incarcerated men exposing a cover-up in America’s deadliest prison system.
The Body Shops Fred Schulte KFF Health News, NBC News The Body Shops series examines the rise of cosmetic surgery chains, many funded by private equity and selling thousands of patients low-cost body contouring procedures that have prompted numerous medical malpractice lawsuits alleging serious and painful medical complications, including more than a dozen deaths.
The End of Aid: Trump Destroyed USAID. What Happens Now? Brett Murphy, Anna Maria Barry-Jester ProPublica The U.S. Agency for International Development saved lives and promoted American interests around the globe, but as the Trump administration dismantled USAID and cut off funding, ProPubica reporters investigated the fallout, naming names of responsible Trump officials, uncovering secret memos and detailing shocking incidents, unequivocally connecting the most serious harm—the deaths of people, including children, who depended on this aid—to the officials’ decisions to end it.
The Legacy of Luckey Alexa York The Blade An investigation that exposed the toxic legacy of the former Cold War town of Luckey, Ohio, prompting action by local, state and federal authorities.
The poisonous lead trade Will Fitzgibbon, Peter Goodman, Samuel Granados, Taylor Turner, Finbarr O’Reilly, Carmen Abd Ali, Melanie Bencosme The Examination, The New York Times The American auto industry has ignored decades of warnings about the consequences of using lead that has been recycled unsafely and now relies on shoddy, overseas factories that have poisoned workers and children, in some cases causing irreversible damage.
Unprotected Sandra Peddie, Grant Parpan, Nicole Fuller, Shari Einhorn, Macy Egeland Newsday The case of a 14-year-old girl victimized by a trafficking and drug network on Long Island exposes a systemic failure to protect vulnerable minors and highlights the pervasive, often hidden nature of sex trafficking across the region.
VA disability benefits investigation Craig Whitlock, Lisa Rein, Caitlin Gilbert The Washington Post Military veterans are swamping the Department of Veterans Affairs with dubious and fraudulent disability claims — and the VA itself is helping them exploit the system.
Vicious: Dog attacks maim, disfigure and kill every year. How Ohio law fails victims Laura Bischoff, Stephanie Warsmith The USA Today Ohio network which includes The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, The Akron Beacon Journal and The Canton Repository Ohio changed it vicious dog laws after a team of reporters uncovered severe injuries and deaths due to reckless owners.
Announcing the winner of the inaugural Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting
“This new prize was created to honor journalism that does the hard work of explaining essential institutions: how does the government actually work, who are the players, what is the essence of serving the public,” said Shorenstein Director Nancy Gibbs. “The team at The Washington Post captured the extraordinary work of the ordinary people who commit to making our lives better, safer, freer. As budgets are slashed and entire departments dissolved, I can think of no better time to tell their stories.”
Seven writers — Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell — were “set loose on the federal bureaucracy” and given the same brief: find a story about public service. Each piece, taken together, helped shine a light on the value of government work and the dedicated civil servants that are rarely written about or celebrated:
About the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting
The new Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting seeks to honor and inspire excellent reporting that illuminates the “how” of governance in the United States – how public policy is implemented, how government systems and processes work, and what citizens can better understand about what government does. The winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting receives $15,000, to be awarded directly to the winning journalist or team.
Financial support for the Goldsmith Awards Program is provided by an annual grant from the Goldsmith Fund of the Greenfield Foundation. The program is administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. To learn more about the Goldsmith Awards visit goldsmithawards.org.
Announcing the Finalists for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is proud to announce the six finalists for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The Goldsmith Prize, first awarded in 1993 and funded by a gift from the Greenfield Foundation, honors the best public service investigative journalism that has made an impact on local, state, or federal public policy or the practice of politics in the United States. Finalists receive $10,000, and the winner – to be announced at the April 3 ceremony – receives $25,000. All prize monies go to the journalist or team that produced the reporting.
“At a time of great upheaval and uncertainty in our country, this year’s finalists remind us of the essential role of a free press in safeguarding democracy,” said Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center. “The investigative reporters honored here dedicated countless hours to expose the exploitation of some of our nation’s most vulnerable populations — from senior citizens and people recovering from addiction, to new mothers, wounded veterans, and innocent bystanders. Their stories serve as a critical check on institutions that we all rely on.”
The San Francisco Chronicle | Jennifer Gollan, Susie Neilson
In “Fast and Fatal,” reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson of The San Francisco Chronicle brought to light the deadly consequences of police chases in the United States. Through meticulous research and data gathering over a year, the reporters unveiled that police chases resulted in over 3,300 deaths from 2017 through 2022, with a significant number of victims being bystanders or passengers, not the fleeing drivers. Many chases began with minor offenses rather than violent crimes, yet very few officers faced consequences for actions that led to fatalities.
A pivotal part of their research included creating a comprehensive database by compiling information from various sources such as research organizations, government data, media reports, and public records. They also identified the dangerous use of the Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT), responsible for numerous deaths, half of which were not the fleeing drivers.
The reporters’ findings prompted significant impact even before publication. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acknowledged the need to update its fatality data. The investigation spurred legislative calls for accurate data collection on police chase fatalities and inspired NYU’s Policing Project to develop national guidelines for vehicle pursuits, advocating for stricter policies and prohibitions on PIT maneuvers.
“Fast and Fatal” had a ripple effect, with media outlets and academic institutions using the Chronicle’s database to further investigate and raise awareness about pursuit fatalities. The series has been instrumental in changing perceptions and policies about police pursuits, highlighting the critical need for reform to enhance public safety and accountability. Read the reporting.
KARE-TV | A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert, Brandon Stahl, Gary Knox, Kelly Dietz
In “Recovery Inc.,” reporters at KARE 11 in Minneapolis revealed widespread evidence of fraud in Minnesota’s addiction recovery industry, exposing how companies billed taxpayers for services never rendered. The investigation began with tips about dubious billing practices and expanded to uncover systemic issues in government oversight and accountability. A key case involved a double murder where the accused did not receive treatment as claimed by the facility. KARE 11’s reporting highlighted egregious examples, such as billing Medicaid for 203 hours of work by a single employee in one day and charging for movie nights as therapy sessions. The series uncovered a relationship between Kyros, a for-profit entity, and Refocus Recovery, a nonprofit, both founded by Daniel Larson. The investigation showed that Refocus funneled 96% of its taxpayer revenue to Kyros, based on exploiting Medicaid billing practices.
KARE 11’s dedicated journalism, often conducted under threats, exposed these practices by interviewing affected individuals and deciphering complex billing data. Their reporting prompted multiple federal and state investigations, including an FBI raid, a Department of Justice asset freeze, and a criminal indictment. The exposé also led to significant leadership changes, with top executives resigning. Furthermore, the investigation inspired swift legislative reform, passing laws to improve supervision, audit Medicaid billing, and eliminate nonprofits with conflicting interests. The series’ ripple effect included bipartisan legislative hearings, and KARE 11’s courage in challenging an unconstitutional gag order fortified its impact, emphasizing the media’s critical watchdog role in society. Watch the reporting.
The Wall Street Journal | Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty, Anna Wilde Mathews, Mark Maremont, Andrew Mollica
The Wall Street Journal’s investigative series “Medicare Inc.: How Giant Insurers Make Billions Off Seniors” exposed how private insurers exploit the Medicare Advantage system by prioritizing profits over actual patient care. The series, led by a team with extensive experience in analyzing Medicare data, revealed that insurers are financially incentivized to minimize services while increasing reported diagnoses to boost government payments. The investigation involved unprecedented access to Medicare data, covering every service provided to beneficiaries from 2015 to 2022. Through data analysis, interviews and internal corporate documents, the team discovered a disturbing pattern where insurers profited from diagnoses reported without providing corresponding treatment, including during home visits.
The Journal’s in-depth research, which included reverse-engineering Medicare’s payment algorithms, confronted numerous challenges, including learning complex statistical software and processing massive datasets. Their findings uncovered systemic issues, such as insurers exploiting home visit diagnoses to claim billions in inflated payments.
The impact of the investigation has been significant, prompting congressional inquiries and influencing federal policy. The Office of Inspector General recommended halting payments based solely on home visit diagnoses. The Congressional Budget Office estimated a potential $124 billion in savings over ten years if such payments were stopped. Additionally, federal investigations have been initiated, including by the Justice Department and Sen. Chuck Grassley, who cited the reports in demanding disclosures from UnitedHealth. The series has also galvanized further research, with institutions like the Kaiser Family Foundation expanding on the Journal’s findings about end-of-life care patterns. The Journal’s reporting is prompting legislative reforms and encouraging more accountability in Medicare Advantage practices. Read the reporting.
Dave Philipps’ investigative reporting revealed the pervasive and overlooked brain injuries suffered by U.S. military personnel due to repeated low-level shocks, such as blasts from weapons or high-impact maneuvers. While initially focusing on artillery crew members impacted by firing their own weapons, Philipps expanded his investigation to examine whether these brain injuries were prevalent among other troops with more routine military experiences. He discovered that highly skilled units, including Navy SEALs and TOPGUN pilots, were significantly affected.
Despite a lack of official reports or documents, Philipps conducted extensive on-the-ground interviews with affected troops, veterans, and their families. He navigated the military’s tight controls, insularity, and attempts to obscure the issue by fostering trust within these communities and accessing informal networks. His research documented instances across various military roles, revealing critical insights into how the military had long been blind to the problem due to cultural and institutional obstructions.
The series sparked substantial impact, prompting legislative and policy changes. In December, Congress enacted the Blast Overpressure Safety Act, mandating the military to monitor blast exposure and design safer weapons, anticipating long-term benefits for millions of troops. The Pentagon initiated baseline brain scans for recruits, revealing systemic changes. Additionally, the reporting influenced international military practices, with allied nations reevaluating their training and equipment protocols. Philipps’ work not only highlighted a severe issue but also empowered troop communities, providing a clearer understanding of their injuries and avenues for treatment. Read the reporting.
The San Francisco Chronicle and the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program | Katey Rusch, Casey Smith
The two-part investigative series “Right to Remain Secret,” a collaboration between UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program and the San Francisco Chronicle, unveiled how multiple police agencies in California used secretive legal settlements to mask the misconduct of officers. The investigation followed an interview with a former police chief from Banning, California, who had reportedly dismissed officers for serious misconduct, only to have their records altered to show voluntary resignations due to clandestine agreements. This tactic allowed these officers to seek employment elsewhere without disclosing prior allegations.
Reporters Katey Rusch and Casey Smith embarked on a rigorous journey, submitting over a thousand public records requests across the state, which revealed more than 300 such “clean-record agreements.” Many settlements contained strict confidentiality terms and financial penalties for disclosure, complicating the release of records. Furthermore, the investigation exposed the misuse of the California disability pension system, with some agreements promising officers a tax-free disability retirement under suspect circumstances.
The series has sparked significant impact. Public outcry has driven California legislators to consider banning these agreements, while the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is investigating pension cases highlighted by the series for possible revocation. Multiple officers have lost their positions or face further scrutiny, and the ACLU of Southern California added the elimination of these agreements to its legislative agenda. Media outlets and experts have lauded the investigation, recognizing its groundbreaking revelations into the shielded operations within law enforcement systems. Read the reporting.
The Marshall Project, Reveal, Mother Jones, and USA Today | Shoshana Walter, Marianne McCune, Staff of The Marshall Project and Reveal
This investigative series, spearheaded by reporter Shoshana Walter, uncovered the troubling practice of hospitals nationwide using unreliable drug tests on birthing patients, leading to unwarranted child welfare interventions. The investigation began when Walter heard from a mother whose positive methamphetamine test was falsely triggered by a common blood pressure medication. Further investigation revealed numerous cases, including Susan Horton, whose consumption of a poppy seed salad caused a false positive opiate test, resulting in her newborn’s removal. The reporting highlighted the high false positive rates of urine screens and the consequent threats many new mothers face from child welfare agencies.
Walter interviewed hundreds of women, examined medical records, and filed public records requests to scrutinize drug testing and reporting practices. Her findings exposed that federal authorities have long known about the unreliability of urine screens, yet no state safeguards birthing patients’ rights. This led to traumatizing experiences for many families who were wrongfully accused and separated.
The impact has been profound, with many affected women coming forward and advocacy groups mobilizing for change. The stories galvanized legislative attention, prompting U.S. lawmakers to condemn the practice and seek solutions. Civil rights organizations are leveraging the investigation to instigate legal and policy reforms across more than 20 states. Within the medical and child welfare communities, the series sparked discussions and initiated efforts to revise existing procedures, demonstrating the potential for systemic change prompted by rigorous investigative journalism. Read the reporting.
Anderson Cooper to be honored with the 2025 Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism
Each year, the Shorenstein Center presents the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism to recognize outstanding contributions to the field and honor work that has enriched our political discourse and our society. This year’s winner is Anderson Cooper, award-winning CNN anchor and CBS 60 Minutes correspondent.
“Year after year, Anderson Cooper has navigated the toughest stories and kept viewers informed while providing incisive analysis of the day’s events,” said Shorenstein Director Nancy Gibbs. “Whether at the anchor desk or in the field, Anderson is an intrepid journalist and a natural storyteller capable of grilling a public official one minute and comforting a displaced refugee the next.”
2025 Goldsmith Career Award Winner Anderson Cooper:
Anderson Cooper is the anchor of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, and his podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper, and is a regular correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Since the start of his career in 1992, Cooper has worked in nearly eighty countries and covered major news events around the world, often reporting from the scene. Cooper has also played a pivotal role in CNN’s political and election coverage. He has anchored from conventions and moderated several presidential primary debates and town halls. In 2016, Cooper was selected by the Committee On Presidential Debates to co-moderate one of the three debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
At CNN and 60 Minutes, Cooper has won a number of major journalism awards. He helped lead CNN’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and duPont Award-winning coverage of the 2004 tsunami. Additionally, he has been awarded twenty-three Emmy Awards, including two for his coverage of the earthquake in Haiti, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. All four of Cooper’s books have topped the New York Times Best-seller List, including his most recent, Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune.
Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and host of the network’s reality program The Mole. Cooper anchored ABC’s overnight newscast World News Now, and was a correspondent for World News Tonight as well as 20/20. Cooper joined ABC from Channel One News, where he served as chief international correspondent. During that time, he reported and produced stories, from conflicts in Bosnia, Cambodia, Haiti, Israel, Myanmar, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, and South Africa. Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi.
The Goldsmith Awards, founded in 1991 and funded by a gift from the Greenfield Foundation, strives to foster a more insightful and spirited public debate about government, politics and the press, and to demonstrate the essential role of a free press in a thriving democracy. The Goldsmith Awards ceremony on April 3, 2025 will feature a keynote by the Career Award winner, as well as the presentation of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting, and two Goldsmith Book Prizes.
Announcing the semifinalists for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Our judging committee was tasked with reviewing over 120 entries for this year’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The following semifinalists are the top 30 entries that our judges deemed to be of extremely high quality and in keeping with the Prize’s criteria for impact on US government, public policy, or the practice of politics. In the coming weeks, the finalists for the Goldsmith Prize will be announced from this esteemed group, with the winner announced at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 3.
The semifinalists for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting are listed here in alphabetical order, with links to the original reporting. Short descriptions were submitted as part of the entry.
A CT senator’s curious disability pension, workers’ comp case reveals shortfalls in systems Hearst Connecticut Media Group Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Taylor Johnston A months-long, rolling investigative series uncovered glaring, systemic violations, problems and loopholes across two state employee benefit programs that come at a massive expense for taxpayers of Connecticut.
Abused by the Badge The Washington Post Jessica Contrera, Jenn Abelson, John D. Harden, Staff of The Washington Post Hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually abused children, while officials at every level of the criminal justice system have failed to protect kids, punish abusers and prevent additional crimes.
Baltimore’s Overdose Crisis The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times Alissa Zhu, Nick Thieme, Jessica Gallagher, Staff of the Baltimore Banner Baltimore is enduring the worst drug overdose crisis in American history, exacerbated by city leaders’ failures, questionable treatment providers and a single generation of older Black men who have been struggling with drugs for most of their lives.
Boston Globe Spotlight investigation into Steward Health Care The Boston Globe with contributions from OCCRP Mark Arsenault, Jessica Bartlett, Elizabeth Koh, Liz Kowalczyk, Hanna Krueger, Chris Serres, Rebecca Ostriker, Catherine Carlock, Yoohyun Jung,Brendan McCarthy, Mark Morrow, Gordon Russell Over 11 months, the Globe Spotlight Team took readers inside hospital rooms and Steward Health Care’s C-suite, detailing meetings where executives tried to bribe foreign officials and hatched billion-door deals to evade oversight and enrich themselves.
Chemical Capture Civil Eats Lisa Held This investigation explores how pesticide companies gain and wield political power in state legislatures and try to shape state laws that benefit their bottom lines.
Dealing the Dead NBC News Digital, NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt,” Noticias Telemundo Mike Hixenbaugh, Jon Schuppe, Susan Carroll, Anagilmara Vilchez, Liz Kreutz, Tyler Kingkade NBC News exposed how a public university dissected and leased out the bodies of the unclaimed poor for medical research without people’s consent or their families’ knowledge, sparking sweeping changes and helping readers learn the fate of their loved ones.
Dying on Dart’s Watch Injustice Watch Carlos Ballesteros Detainee deaths at the Cook County Jail hit a record high of 18 in 2023, many died amid oversight failures, inadequate supervision and substandard medical care, an Injustice Watch investigation found.
Fast and Fatal The San Francisco Chronicle Jennifer Gollan, Susie Neilson Police chases, enabled by a cascade of government failures, killed more than 3,300 people in six years. Many were bystanders and a disparate number were Black.
Fields of Green The Frontier and ProPublica Garrett Yalch, Clifton Adcock, Sebastian Rotella An investigative series revealing how Chinese mafias have come to dominate the U.S. illicit marijuana trade, exploiting weak regulations in Oklahoma and abusing thousands of immigrant workers.
Health Care’s Colossus STAT Bob Herman, Casey Ross, Tara Bannow, Lizzy Lawrence This series reveals how UnitedHealth wields its unrivaled power to milk the health care system for profit, at the expense of taxpayers, patients, and clinicians.
Justice for Sandra Birchmore The Boston Globe Laura Crimaldi, Yvonne Abraham, Staff of The Boston Globe Police were quick to say Sandra Birchmore hung herself, but Boston Globe reporter Laura Crimaldi probed deeper, raising questions about a Stoughton police officer Birchmore was dating that ultimately led to charges that he killed her and staged the scene to make it look like a suicide.
KARE 11 Investigates: Recovery Inc. KARE-TV A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert, Brandon Stahl, Gary Knox, Kelly Dietz KARE 11’s “Recovery Inc.” investigation exposed systemic exploitation within Minnesota’s booming addiction recovery industry, revealing fraudulent practices that preyed on vulnerable populations and defrauded taxpayers.
Lethal Restraint Associated Press, FRONTLINE (PBS), and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland and at Arizona State University Mitch Weiss, Reese Dunklin, Holbrook Mohr, Justin Pritchard, Serginho Roosblad, Ryan Foley, Martha Bellisle, Kristin Hall, John Seewer, Mike Shum, Sean Mussenden This collaborative investigation documented and deeply analyzed a decade’s worth of deaths after police used not guns but what they call less-lethal force.
Life and death in Yakima The Seattle Times Daniel Beekman, Sydney Brownstone, Miyoko Wolf, Ramon Dompor After Hien Trung Hua and Jim Curtice were arrested during mental health crises, their stories intersected in a haunting way that sheds light on the dangers and inequalities of the criminal legal system: Hua went to jail and died behind bars, whereas Curtice went free and helped obscure Hua’s death.
Life of the Mother ProPublica Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser, Cassandra Jaramillo, Stacy Kranitz A landmark investigation into the unexamined, irreversible consequences of state abortion bans, including the preventable deaths of five women.
Medicare Inc.: How Giant Insurers Make Billions Off Seniors The Wall Street Journal Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty, Anna Wilde Mathews, Mark Maremont, Andrew Mollica The Wall Street Journal uncovered abusive practices within the Medicare system that harm the most vulnerable patients and cost taxpayers billions.
Oil companies leak toxic gas across Texas — making local residents sick The Examination and The Houston Chronicle Will Evans, Caroline Ghisolfi, Amanda Drane, Amelia Winger Tens of thousands of people live close to oil and gas wells where they risk exposure to hazardous levels of hydrogen sulfide while regulators do little to protect them.
Our Troops’ Wounded Brains The New York Times Dave Philipps U.S. troops are suffering profound brain injuries from their own weapons and equipment, a problem to which the military has been blind for decades; the damage comes not just from artillery, but also from crashing over waves or aerial dogfighting.
Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic Reuters News Joel Schectman, Chris Bing The U.S. military launched a clandestine anti-vax propaganda program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation, targeting the Filipino public and endangering countless lives.
Pets for Profit The Los Angeles Times Melody Gutierrez, Alene Tchekmedyian, David Wharton, Sean Greene A deep look into exploitation within the nation’s multibillion-dollar pet industry, from the unregulated pipeline of puppies and other animals imported to California, to lax oversight that enables abuses, and a public that is often left in the dark about it all.
Power & Secrecy The News & Observer Dan Kane, David Raynor, Adam Wagner Power & Secrecy shows the hidden cost as state lawmakers have given themselves more power while reducing transparency in their operations.
Press Democrat bid-rigging investigation The Press Democrat Andrew Graham A Press Democrat investigation into no-bid county contracts shows millions in taxpayer money is unaccounted for, triggering local and FBI investigations and leading to criminal charges.
Preventing Disaster: Investigating Hospital Crashes KXAN Matt Grant, Josh Hinkle, Dalton Huey, Chris Nelson When a car slammed into an Austin emergency room in early 2024, killing the driver and injuring five others, KXAN investigators dug into the safety concerns surrounding a hospital without security barriers at its entrance.
Right to Remain Secret The San Francisco Chronicle and the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program Katey Rusch, Casey Smith California police agencies used secret deals to whitewash the corruption and criminality of hundreds of officers, ensuring they could get hired again.
She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad Before Giving Birth. Then They Took Her Baby Away. The Marshall Project and Reveal Shoshana Walter Widespread drug testing of pregnant women at childbirth leads to thousands of faulty positive reports, child welfare investigations and even some parents losing custody of their babies.
Silence & Secrets: An investigation into child sexual abuse by Kentucky coaches The Louisville Courier Journal Stephanie Kuzydym Through an extensive search of news reports and court records, The Courier Journal found at least 80 cases of alleged child sexual misconduct by Kentucky middle- and high-school coaches during the past 15 years … and a culture that allows it to persist.
The Dark Side of Shen Yun The New York Times Nicole Hong, Michael Rothfeld The popular dance group Shen Yun spent years exploiting its underage performers for financial gain, unchecked by regulators – until The New York Times started reporting on it.
The Gray Zone Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Cleo Krejci “The Gray Zone” is an examination of the staffing crisis that is straining Wisconsin’s rapidly-growing assisted living industry by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Cleo Krejci, a former direct caregiver herself.
VANISHED The Columbus Dispatch Danae King, Max Filby Columbus Dispatch journalists spent eight months investigating how law enforcement agencies search for missing persons and found that police often leave families in years of agonizing limbo while rarely using every tool at their disposal to bring missing Ohioans home.
Announcing the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Finalists
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is proud to announce the six finalists for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The Goldsmith Prize, first awarded in 1993 and funded by a gift from the Greenfield Foundation, honors the best public service investigative journalism that has made an impact on local, state, or federal public policy or the practice of politics in the United States. Finalists receive $10,000, and the winner – to be announced at the April 3 ceremony – receives $25,000. All prize monies go to the journalist or team that produced the reporting.
“This year’s finalists went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the truth – mixing classic shoe-leather journalism with the kind of shrewd and scrappy reporting that inspires new generations to enter the field and seasoned reporters to stick with it,” said Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center. “In a time of great uncertainty, these finalists remind us of journalism’s vital role in our democracy.”
The 2024 Goldsmith Prize winner will be announced at the awards ceremony, to be held April 3, 2024, at the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The in-person ceremony will be livestreamed at GoldsmithAwards.org and ShorensteinCenter.org.
2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Finalists
Alone and Exploited
The New York Times | Hannah Dreier
Reporter Hannah Dreier’s investigation into the wide resurgence of child labor in the United States began with a simple question: As more unaccompanied migrant children began crossing the border than ever before, where were they all going? In this 20-month long investigation, Dreier uncovered a culture of careless disregard for child labor laws at construction sites, slaughterhouses and in factories across the country and a “chain of willful ignorance” at every point in the system meant to protect children from exploitation. Dreier earned the trust of hundreds of migrant children, federal contractors, investigators and auditors, government social workers, and sources at the highest levels of the White House and federal agencies to bring the truth to light. The impact of her investigation was swift and prompted immediate reforms across state and federal agencies as well as dozens of major corporations and brands. Read the reporting.
Denied by AI: How big insurers use algorithms to cut off care for Medicare Advantage patients
STAT | Casey Ross, Bob Herman
Following a tip from an employee at a small nursing home, STAT reporters Casey Ross and Bob Herman relied on internal sources, confidential company documents, and court records to reveal how UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, was inappropriately using predictions from a flawed computer algorithm to deny care to seriously ill patients. Reducing older adults and people with disabilities to numbers, insurers used the predictions to deny or prematurely cut off rehab care of sick and injured Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and maximize the company’s profits. The publication of this four-part investigative series prompted federal regulators to issue new rules and launch their own investigations and triggered at least two class-action lawsuits. Read the reporting.
While there has been plenty of press coverage of the Supreme Court’s landmark court decisions over the years, the Justices themselves have long evaded the kind of public scrutiny endured by elected officials and other public servants. Seeking to shed light on one of the most opaque branches of government, this reporting team used a series of unconventional reporting techniques – cross-referencing highly redacted records from U.S. Marshals with flight data, hunting down fishing licenses, private yacht schedules, photos on social media and interviews with hundreds of people around the world – to reveal a system that enables judges to thwart ethical oversight and conceal conflicts of interest as they rule on the country’s most consequential legal cases. Their reporting prompted investigations by the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees and led to the Supreme Court’s adoption of a code of conduct for the first time in its history. Read the reporting.
Ghost Tags: Inside New York City’s Black Market for Temporary License Plates
Streetsblog | Jesse Coburn
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reporter Jesse Coburn noticed a strange trend: cars with out-of-state temporary paper license plates seemed to be all over New York City. Coburn filed public records requests in New Jersey and Georgia – two states that were especially prevalent among the temporary plates in New York – and discovered that fraudsters were taking advantage of lax regulations in these states and issuing tens of thousands of temporary tags from dealerships with no other apparent business activity. Motorists in NYC used the fraudulent tags for anonymity while dodging tolls, driving without insurance, and committing serious and violent crimes. Following the publication of “Ghost Tags,” lawmakers in New Jersey passed a law reforming the state’s temporary tag system, and elected officials in Georgia and New York City also introduced legislation on the issue. Read the reporting.
Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs
Mississippi Today and The New York Times | Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey, Nate Rosenfield, and Jerry Mitchell
In the summer of 2022, Mississippi Today reporter Jerry Mitchell was alarmed by how often sheriffs accused of committing serious crimes managed to evade any consequences and remain in office. Mitchell and reporter Ilyssa Daly began investigating the state’s sheriffs and soon found themselves inundated with corruption allegations and harrowing tales of torture and violence from victims and witnesses across the state. Joining forces with the New York Times, the team obtained records logged from officers’ Tasers (the preferred torture device of the deputies, according to victims) and matched the logs with other departmental records to determine which device was assigned to each deputy. This allowed them to corroborate the victims’ accounts and identify additional victims. Their series of reports led to the federal indictment of one former sheriff and “lit a fire under federal authorities,” with the FBI requesting the reporters’ help in reaching the victims and witnesses for interviews.
This project was in part supported by Big Local News at Stanford University and the Pulitzer Center. Read the reporting.
With Every Breath: Millions of Breathing Machines. One Dangerous Defect.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and ProPublica | Michael D. Sallah, Debbie Cenziper, Michael Korsh, Evan Robinson-Johnson, Monica Sager, Margaret Fleming and the Medill Investigative Lab at Northwestern University
After months of sorting through thousands of complaints submitted to the FDA, reporters revealed that Philips Respironics kept millions of dangerous breathing machines – used by COVID-19 patients, infants, the elderly, and veterans – on the market, despite warnings from their own experts that the devices posed serious health risks. The investigation also revealed that the FDA had received warnings about contaminants in the machines for years but repeatedly failed to warn the public. Their reporting prompted the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an investigation of the FDA’s oversight of medical devices for the first time in a decade and led to calls by influential members of Congress for the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Philips Respironics. Read the reporting.
