“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.
Nominations now open for the 2025 Goldsmith Awards
Submissions for the 2025 Goldsmith Prizes for investigative and explanatory reporting are due January 9, 2025 at 11:59pm.
This year the Goldsmith Awards are offering a new prize category. Inaugurated in 2024 as the Goldsmith Special Citation for Reporting on Government, this year we will offer a formal Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the first time. This new prize is intended to honor journalism that digs deep to explain how government works. Learn more about the new prize in this informational webinar and nominate reporting that fits the criteria.
Has your reporting made an impact on U.S. government or policy at the national, state, or local level (or do you know a journalist whose stories have made a difference)? Nominate it for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The prize celebrates and amplifies the public policy impact of investigative journalism, and highlights its importance to our democracy.
WHY APPLY?
Both prizes offer substantial cash prizes ranging from $10,000 – $25,000, given directly to the reporting teams.
Honorees come from all kinds of news organizations: from legacy newspapers to digital natives; from nationally-renowned broadcast networks to reporters working on a shoestring at a tiny local paper. Judges consider each entry on its own merits – even if you’ve never considered entering a journalism prize before, we strongly encourage you to apply!
Winners and finalists are honored at a ceremony at Harvard in the spring, and their accomplishments are promoted widely.
It is FREE to enter! Newsrooms may submit up to 2 entries for the investigative prize, and an unlimited number for this first year of the explanatory prize!
Hannah Dreier Wins 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Hannah Dreier of the New York Times is the winner of the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for her five-part exposé “Alone and Exploited.” Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs unveiled the winner of the prize live at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 3, 2024, in the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School.
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.
Though she was not able to attend the award ceremony in person, due to the happy reason of having an extremely new baby at home, Dreier accepted the award live via video connection with her daughter on her lap. “I want to accept this amazing honor on behalf of the children, who took huge risks in speaking out,” she said. “These were 14, 15 year olds, who had their arms shredded by industrial machines, who were waking up at the crack of dawn to work on roofs, and they had nothing to gain from sharing their experiences except the hope of helping other people.”
Other winners at the 2024 Goldsmith Awards included:
The winner of the inaugural Goldsmith Special Citation for Reporting on Government was “Overpayment Outrage” by Jodie Fleisher, David Hilzenrath, and the teams at KFF Health News and Cox Media Group.
This new citation honors explanatory and/or investigative reporting that focuses on the functioning of government and the implementation of public policy. The team behind “Overpayment Outrage” unearthed a significant problem in the Social Security Administration and revealed the structural weaknesses that caused it to happen — including chronic underfunding of the agency and outdated, incomplete data systems that made it impossible for people at the ground level to do their jobs effectively. They did this all in a collaboration that paired a national nonprofit newsroom with dozens of local TV news stations around the country, connecting the dots from the most local impacts to the highest levels of government.
The Goldsmith Career Award went to NPR’s award-winning legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, who joined Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs in a fireside chat about lessons learned from her trailblazing career covering the U.S. Supreme Court.
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.
Nina Totenberg to be honored with the 2024 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 Nina Totenberg, whose trailblazing career covering the U.S. Supreme Court has surpassed that of the longest-serving Justices in the Court’s history. Regarded as one of the “Founding Mothers” of NPR, Totenberg’s decades of award-winning reporting have cemented her status as the country’s preeminent legal reporter.
“Nina’s insightful coverage of arguably the most insular branch of government is unparalleled” said Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs. “Her expertise and thought-provoking reports are invaluable, particularly now with public trust in the nation’s highest court at near record lows.”
Totenberg will share her insights in a “fireside chat” with Gibbs at this year’s Goldsmith Awards ceremony, to be held on April 3, 2024 in the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The in-person event will be livestreamed at GoldsmithAwards.org and ShorensteinCenter.org.
2024 Goldsmith Career Award winner Nina Totenberg:
Nina Totenberg is NPR’s award-winning legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR’s critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition. Totenberg’s coverage of the Supreme Court and legal affairs has won her widespread recognition. She is often featured in documentaries — most recently RBG — that deal with issues before the court. As Newsweek put it, “The mainstays [of NPR] are Morning Edition and All Things Considered. But the creme de la creme is Nina Totenberg.”
In 1991, her ground-breaking report about University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment by Judge Clarence Thomas led the Senate Judiciary Committee to re-open Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings to consider Hill’s charges. NPR received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for its gavel-to-gavel coverage — anchored by Totenberg — of both the original hearings and the inquiry into Anita Hill’s allegations, and for Totenberg’s reports and exclusive interview with Hill.
That same coverage earned Totenberg additional awards, including the Long Island University George Polk Award for excellence in journalism; the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting; the Carr Van Anda Award from the Scripps School of Journalism; and the prestigious Joan S. Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based national affairs/public policy reporting, which also acknowledged her coverage of Justice Thurgood Marshall’s retirement.
Totenberg was named Broadcaster of the Year and honored with the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. She is the first radio journalist to receive the award. She is also the recipient of the American Judicature Society’s first-ever award honoring a career body of work in the field of journalism and the law. In 1988, Totenberg won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her coverage of Supreme Court nominations.
Totenberg has been honored seven times by the American Bar Association for continued excellence in legal reporting and has received more than two dozen honorary degrees. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships.
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.
SEMIFINALISTS FOR THE 2024 GOLDSMITH PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Our judging committee was tasked with reviewing over 170 entries for this year’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The following semifinalists are among 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 public policy. In the coming weeks, the finalists for the Goldsmith Prize will be selected from this esteemed group, with the winner announced at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 3.
The semifinalists for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting are listed here in alphabetical order, with links to the original reporting:
America’s Dangerous Trucks FRONTLINE (PBS) and ProPublica A.C. Thompson, Gabrielle Schonder, Karim Hajj, Frank Koughan, Staff of FRONTLINE (PBS), ProPublica
America, Global Gun Pusher Bloomberg News Michael Riley, David Kocieniewski, Eric Fan, Monte Reel, Jessica Brice, Natalie Obiko-Pearson, Michael Smith, Chris Cannon
Committed to Jail Mississippi Today and ProPublica Isabelle Taft, Agnel Philip, Mollie Simon
Miami: Shakedown City Miami Herald Sarah Blaskey, Joey Flechas, Tess Riski, Jay Weaver, Linda Robertson, Susan Merriam
Overpayment Outrage KFF Health News and Cox Media Group Jodie Fleischer, David Hilzenrath, Fred Clasen-Kelly, Samantha Manning, Josh Wade, Justin Gray, Leah Dunn, John Bedell, Amy Hudak, Jesse Jones, Anna Rodzinski, Madison Carter, Shannon Butler, Ben Becker, Ted Daniel
Peddling Death Los Angeles Times Keri Blakinger, Connor Sheets, Brittny Mejia
Safer Sidelines The Courier Journal and USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism Stephanie Kuzydym, Rob Byers, Kyle Slagle, Jeff Faughender
Stalled Justice Chicago Tribune Joe Mahr, Megan Crepeau, Brian Cassella
The 13th Step New Hampshire Public Radio Lauren Chooljian
The Discord Leaks The Washington Post and FRONTLINE (PBS) Shane Harris, Samuel Oakford, Chris Dehghanpoor, Dan Lamothe, staff of The Washington Post, Tom Jennings, Annie Wong, staff of FRONTLINE (PBS)
The VA Loan Fiasco NPR Chris Arnold, Quil Lawrence, Robert Benincasa, Robert Little, Noah Caldwell, Graham Smith
Unfettered Power Mississippi Today and The New York Times Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey, Nate Rosenfield, Jerry Mitchell, Rachel Axon, Eric Sagara, Irene Casado Sanchez, Joel Engelhardt, Kitty Bennett, Big Local News at Stanford University
Water Grab Bloomberg Green Peter Waldman, Sinduja Rangarajan, Mark Chediak, Kyle Kim, Jeremy C.F. Lin, Leslie Kaufman, Momar Niang, Katarina Hoije, Angus Whitley, Sybilla Gross, Elena Mejía, Raeedah Wahid, Laura Bliss
What Makes a Murderer The New Yorker and The Yale Investigative Reporting Lab’s Felony Murder Reporting Project Sarah Stillman
With Every Breath 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
Nominate a story for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Submissions for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting are now open. The deadline to submit is Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 11:59 pm ET.
Has your reporting made an impact on U.S. government or policy at the national, state, or local level (or do you know a journalist whose stories have made a difference)? Apply for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. The Goldsmith Prize, now in its 31st year, seeks to celebrate and amplify the impact of investigative journalism and highlight its importance to our democracy.
WHY APPLY?
This annual prize of $25,000 is awarded to the journalist or journalists whose investigative reporting best promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics.
Five additional finalists each receive a $10,000 prize.
Previous winners and finalists have come from all kinds of news organizations: from legacy newspapers to digital natives; from nationally-renowned broadcast networks to reporters working on a shoestring at a tiny local paper. Judges consider each entry on its own merits – even if you’ve never considered entering a journalism prize before, we strongly encourage you to apply!
Similarly, a wide variety of stories meeting the criteria will be considered. Recent finalists included subjects ranging from the nation’s largest unreported special-interest political campaign, to carbon monoxide poisoning in public housing.
It is FREE to enter! (Up to two entries per news organization).
