Announcing the 2022 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 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. The Goldsmith Prize, founded in 1991 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 a virtual ceremony on April 5 – receives $25,000. All prize monies go to the journalist or team that produced the reporting.
“Every day, we are reminded of journalism’s essential role protecting communities, empowering citizens and holding the powerful accountable,” said Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center. “Even as many newsrooms face unprecedented challenges, this year’s Goldsmith Prize finalists represent the very best in Public Interest Journalism.”
The 2022 Goldsmith Prize winner will be announced at the awards ceremony in Cambridge (and livestreamed online) on April 5, 2022.Read on to learn more about this year’s honorees:
2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Finalists
Wires and Fires Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Raquel Rutledge, John Diedrich, Daphne Chen
Electrical fires are often treated as accidents in Milwaukee, but an investigation by reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that they are actually foreseeable tragedies that hit Black renters by far the hardest, with the government doing little to fix the problem. As part of their reporting, the team hired a master electrician to inspect a random selection of homes in Milwaukee’s hardest-hit area, which found that 80% of single and two-family rental properties in the study area had serious electrical problems. The investigation prompted an immediate outcry by leaders in state government and prompted city officials to reexamine and potentially restore an inspection program previously mothballed by state lawmakers. The city is also launching a tenant education program around the issue of electrical safety and is examining potential requirements for city agencies to better document electrical fires.
Juvenile Injustice, Tennessee Nashville Public Radio’s WPLN News and ProPublica Meribah Knight, Ken Armstrong
In 2016, police arrested four Black girls at an elementary school in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Through more than 50 records requests and hundreds of hours of audio and video, reporters from WPLN and ProPublica uncovered a deeply unjust juvenile justice system that illegally arrested and jailed children, and disproportionately detained Black children. They discovered that the four girls, one as young as 8, were arrested for a crime that does not exist, in an investigation led by an officer who had been disciplined 37 times, on charges approved by judicial commissioners without law degrees, in a system overseen by a judge who failed the bar exam four times, in a county whose policy for locking up kids violated Tennessee law but was missed by inspectors year after year. Members of Congress have called for a federal civil rights investigation, and some members of the Tennessee legislature have called for the judge’s ouster. After the story was published, the judge announced she would be retiring at the end of her term this summer.
Sacrifice Zones: Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution ProPublica, in collaboration with The Texas Tribune and Mountain State Spotlight Lylla Younes, Al Shaw, Ava Kofman, Lisa Song, Max Blau, Maya Miller, Kiah Collier, Alyssa Johnson and Ken Ward, Jr.
In an unprecedented data analysis and interactive map, ProPublica revealed more than 1,000 hot spots of toxic industrial air pollution that the EPA has allowed to spread across America, elevating the cancer risk of more than a fifth of the nation’s population, including 256,000 people exposed to threat levels the agency deems unacceptably high. The series captured how the EPA, through weak policies and calculated choices, created “sacrifice zones” where overlooked communities next door to toxic manufacturing plants bear disproportionate health costs so that consumers can enjoy the products made there. The interactive map at the heart of this reporting provides residents – for the first time – with a way to see their own estimated risk from air pollution. As a result of this reporting the EPA committed to looking into hot spots, and pledged new cumulative risk guidelines and a “more robust” analysis of air pollution. More than 76 local news outlets reported on the findings from their area, expanding awareness of local air pollution risks and prompting local activism.
Poisoned The Tampa Bay Times with support from PBS FRONTLINE Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray
Hillsborough County had the highest number of adult lead poisonings in all of Florida. Reporters from the Tampa Bay Times set out to discover why. They interviewed more than 100 current and former employees at a local battery recycling plant suspected to be the cause. Johnson, Woolington and Murray gathered over 100,000 pages of documents and hundreds of photos and videos from employees that showed the perilous conditions inside the factory. They even became certified lead inspectors as they exposed how the factory had contaminated the surrounding community. After the initial parts of the series ran, OSHA sent inspectors into the plant for the first time in five years, confirmed the Times’ reporting, and issued one of the steepest fines in recent Florida history. Local children were screened for lead, and county regulators increased monitoring and oversight of the company, which also saw its credit rating downgraded and was driven to improve its safety systems. The Times’ project was supported by PBS FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, which provided partial funding and consultation.
FEMA’s Disasters The Washington Post Hannah Dreier, Andrew Ba Tran
Washington Post reporters spent 2021 traversing the corners of the country most ravaged by natural disasters to find out if the government really has people’s backs in the long-term. The reporters conducted 300 interviews and several databases, filed dozens of records requests, and analyzed thousands of pages of individual Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) case records and other documents. What they found was that FEMA was regularly not providing help when it was needed for survivors of disasters. They chronicled the agency denying help to Black families living on land passed down since a generation after slavery, abandoning poor families without assistance for transitioning out of FEMA trailer parks as they shut down, and denying aid to 90% of disaster survivors, often for minor errors in their paperwork. This reporting led to major process changes at FEMA to directly address these issues, and bipartisan legislation currently working its way through Congress.
Unresponsive The Wichita Eagle/Kansas.com Chance Swaim, Michael Stavola
In this months-long investigation into Sedwick County EMS – the lone ambulance provider for more than half a million people – reporters at The Wichita Eagle uncovered a public safety crisis that put an entire community at risk. Through open records, leaked documents, interviews, and direct research, the reporters built a database of response times, and direct testimony to back it up, that showed the department had dangerously slow response times and staffing shortages driven by mismanagement. While under the EMS director’s leadership, the department had fallen from one of the best in the Midwest to one that showed up late for over 11,000 potentially fatal emergency calls in two years. The series led to the prompt ousting of the EMS director, an apology by the county manager for his slow response to the crisis, and most importantly – a massive overhaul of the county’s EMS service.
Submissions for the 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Now Open
Submissions for the 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting are now open. The deadline to submit is Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 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 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
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).
In these challenging times for the news media, the Goldsmith Prize seeks to celebrate and amplify the impact of investigative journalism and highlight its importance to our democracy.
Submissions for the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize Now Open
Submissions for the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize are now open. The deadline to submit is December 15, 2021, 11:59pm ET. Entries for the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize must have been published between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021.
The Shorenstein Center awards the Goldsmith Book Prize to the best trade and best academic book published in the United States in the last 24 months that fulfills the objective of improving democratic governance through an examination of the intersection between the media, politics and public policy. Books outside the defined category are not eligible for an award and will not be reviewed by the award committee.
Recent Goldsmith Book Prizes have been awarded to books about political journalism, the history of news, news and political polarization, internet freedom, local news, and digital democracy.
Announcing the Winner of the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is pleased to present the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting to:
by Joseph Neff, Alysia Santo, Anna Wolfe, and Michelle Liu of The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, and USA TODAY Network.
About the winning investigative reporting project, and its impact:
Mississippi has America’s most dangerous and antiquated penal system – The Marshall Project and Mississippi Today uncovered why. Severe understaffing has made prisons so dangerous that even guards aren’t safe. The state is paying millions of dollars to private prisons for workers who don’t show up. And Mississippi is the only state still running debtors prisons, where people with mostly low-level convictions are sentenced to prison-like facilities to work off fines, court fees, and restitution. Residents in these “restitution centers” often stay longer than necessary to pay off their debts. Lawmakers have called for defunding the centers and turning them into halfway houses, and the Mississippi State Auditor issued a scathing report, saying “the state must fix this, and now.” He also launched an investigation into the tax dollars paid for ghost workers.
In awarding the 2021 Goldsmith Prize to the team behind “Mississippi’s Dangerous and Dysfunctional Penal System,” the judging committee noted their outstanding, deeply reported, data-backed storytelling, and the direct impact this series is having on public policy reforms in Mississippi. They celebrated how the reporters made policy failures real to readers by telling specific stories of individuals within the penal system. These stories gave faces and names to systemic failures, the reporting of which were backed up by cutting edge data journalism and dogged shoe-leather reporting. The series brings readers an understanding of what it’s like to be inside Mississippi’s troubled penal system. One judge noted that this series “shows in visceral terms why you can’t get ahead in a system like this.”
The 2021 Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize judges were: Audra Burch, Sarah Cohen, Mike Greenfield, John Huey, Nancy Kaffer, Sacha Pfeiffer, Bina Venkataraman, Todd Wallack, and Setti Warren. Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center, chaired the meeting. Judges recused themselves from voting on entries from their employers.
The Goldsmith Awards ceremony tonight also honored Stephen Bates and John Maxwell Hamilton with Goldsmith Book Prizes and Stephen Engelberg with the Goldsmith Career Award.
Congratulations to all of the winners, as well as this year’s five Investigative Reporting Prize finalists. You can read more about the 2021 Goldsmith winners and finalists and watch a recording of the ceremony here.
2021 Goldsmith Awards Ceremony
Join us on Tuesday, April 13th at 6:00pm ET for the 2021 Goldsmith Awards Ceremony, hosted virtually by the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. The winner of the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the 2021 Goldsmith Book Prizes will be announced, followed by a conversation with 2021 Goldsmith Career Award winner Stephen Engelberg, Editor-in-Chief of ProPublica. Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs will moderate the event.
Registration for this event is required, details on how to join the webinar will be sent to registered participants before the event.
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is pleased to announce the 2021 winners of the Goldsmith Book Prize. The annual Goldsmith Book Prize is awarded to the trade and academic book published in the United States in the last 24 months that best fulfills the objective of improving democratic governance through an examination of the intersection between the media, politics and public policy. This year’s winners are:
An account of the 1940s Commission on Freedom of the Press, the most extraordinary collaboration of American thinkers in the 20th century, and its classic study of journalism and democracy, “A Free and Responsible Press.”
Manipulating the Masses is a timely, pathbreaking work about a profound and enduring threat to American democracy that arose out of World War I: the establishment of pervasive, systematic propaganda as an instrument of the state and the difficulties that persist in fencing back this power of the presidency.
Announcing the 2021 Goldsmith Prize Finalists and Career Award Winner
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is proud to announce the six finalists for the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Journalism. The Goldsmith Prize, founded in 1991 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 a virtual ceremony on April 13th – receives $25,000. All prize monies go to the journalist or team that produced the reporting.
Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center and chair of the Goldsmith Awards Judges meeting, had this to say about the extraordinary year the world has been through, and the essential role of investigative journalism in making sense of the chaos, and creating more justice in the midst of crisis:
“In 2020, a series of once in a lifetime events—a global pandemic, economic upheaval, social protests, a historic election—touched every household, every community in the country. Given the stakes and the challenges, journalists had to find a way to do their jobs while protecting themselves and their families. This year’s Goldsmith Prize finalists represent the best in Public Interest Journalism at a time when that mission mattered most.”
– Nancy Gibbs
The 2021 Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 13th will also include an announcement of the 2021 Goldsmith Book Prize winners, and a conversation with 2021 Goldsmith Career Award winner Stephen Engelberg, founding Managing Editor and current Editor-in-Chief of ProPublica. Read on to learn more about this year’s honorees:
2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Finalists
As police violence and the failings of the U.S. justice system became front-page news across the country in 2020, Reuters reporters produced a series of data-driven investigative reports that included the first in-depth examination of qualified immunity; a revealing story on how police unions protect abusive officers; the first ever jail-by-jail accounting of inmate mortality in local lockups; and the first comprehensive, national accounting of judicial misconduct. This reporting led to increased awareness of the institutional failings of U.S. law enforcement, and was cited specifically in calls for reform of qualified immunity, and in cases against a corrupt judge and violent jail guards.
Careless Indianapolis Star Tony Cook, Emily Hopkins, and Tim Evans
Indianapolis Star reporters uncovered that government officials in Indiana took more than a billion dollars in federal funds earmarked for nursing home care and redirected it to hospital construction projects, while losing millions to fraud and padding the pockets of hospital executives. The state exploited loose rules and minimal oversight, and left Indiana with some of the worst nursing homes in America, just as the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Inadequate nursing home staffing across the state contributed to hundreds of deaths that likely could have been prevented with more resources. As a result of the IndyStar’s investigation, the state’s largest hospital system committed to a full review of its nursing home operations and the system’s longtime leader was forced to resign. At the state level, reforms have been proposed to increase nursing home funding, and tie Medicaid payments to quality of care.
Mississippi’s Dangerous and Dysfunctional Penal System The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, USA TODAY Network Joseph Neff, Alysia Santo, Anna Wolfe, and Michelle Liu
Mississippi has America’s most dangerous and antiquated penal system – The Marshall Project and Mississippi Today uncovered why. Severe understaffing has made prisons so dangerous that even guards aren’t safe. The state is paying millions of dollars to private prisons for workers who don’t show up. And Mississippi is the only state still running debtors prisons, where people with mostly low-level convictions are sentenced to prison-like facilities to work off fines, court fees, and restitution. Residents in these “restitution centers” often stay longer than necessary to pay off their debts. Lawmakers have called for defunding the centers and turning them into halfway houses, and the Mississippi State Auditor issued a scathing report, saying “the state must fix this, and now.” He also launched an investigation into the tax dollars paid for ghost workers.
Mauled: When Police Dogs Are Weapons The Marshall Project, AL.com, IndyStar, and Invisible Institute Abbie VanSickle, Challen Stephens, Ryan Martin, Dana Brozost-Kelleher, Maurice Chammah, Andrew Fan and Ellen Glover
In a year-long collaboration between regional and national outlets, reporters assembled the a first-of-its-kind database of incidents nationwide in which police dogs were used to attack suspects, resulting in serious injuries. They found that most victims were suspected of low-level non-violent crimes, and some were just bystanders. Injuries, both physical and psychological, were often severe and long-lasting. They resulted in disfigurement, reconstructive surgeries, permanent disability, and at least three deaths. This collaborative reporting project started with one journalist examining a local case in Alabama, and expanded nationally, joining forces with a similar investigation that had started in Indiana. In response to the series, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police announced it was tightening its policies for deploying police dogs; a national police think tank is drafting new guidelines on the use of K-9 units; and lawmakers in several states are using the reporting to push for new restrictions on the use of police dogs to bite people.
Tens of thousands of Marshallese islanders fled their homes for the United States after extensive nuclear weapons testing in the 1940s and 50s washed their islands in dangerous radiation. Under an international agreement they were promised federal benefits, including Medicaid. But, in 1996 Congress stripped them of their Medicaid benefits, and the Marshallese – many of whom now work in factories and farms in America’s heartland – have been struggling to get healthcare ever since. Their community was ravaged by COVID-19, as POLITICO reporter Dan Diamond documented through first-hand visits and outdoor interviews. As a result of his reporting on the COVID-19 crisis and the decades of neglect that the Marshallese community had suffered at the hands of the federal government, Congress officially restored Marshallese islanders’ rights to Medicaid in December 2020.
Targeted Tampa Bay Times Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi
The Tampa Bay Times discovered that the Pasco County, Florida sheriff’s office spent nearly a decade secretly collecting data and building an algorithm designed to predict which residents were likely to break the law. Using this algorithm, but often without probable cause or evidence of crimes, the department continuously monitored and harassed nearly 1,000 residents in the span of five years. The Tampa Bay Times’ interviews with former deputies discovered that the harassment tactics were designed to make these residents move out of the county or file a lawsuit. Some cases had far more dire consequences, including that of a teenager who died by suicide while under surveillance based on the sheriff’s algorithms. As a result of this reporting, state lawmakers have filed legislation to curb this style of policing in Florida, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor has called for a federal investigation and four residents who were targeted are suing the sheriff’s office with the help of a national non-profit legal firm.
2021 Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism
The Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism is given annually for outstanding contributions to the field of journalism, and for work that has enriched our political discourse and our society. This year’s winner is Stephen Engelberg, whose career in investigative reporting and as an editor at ProPublica has contributed to some of the most important reporting of recent decades.
“Steve Engelberg has revived and redefined investigative journalism in the public interest when it is needed most. His intelligence, independence, and commitment to giving reporters the time and resources they need to do great work is reflected not just in the many prizes ProPublica has won, but in the impact its journalism has had. Democracy is stronger thanks to his vision and leadership, and we welcome the chance to celebrate his career achievement.”
– Nancy Gibbs
Stephen Engelberg was the founding managing editor of ProPublica from 2008–2012, and became editor-in-chief on January 1, 2013. He came to ProPublica from The Oregonian in Portland, where he had been a managing editor since 2002. Before joining The Oregonian, Mr. Engelberg worked for The New York Times for 18 years, including stints in Washington, D.C., and Warsaw, Poland, as well as in New York. He is chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Mr. Engelberg’s work since 1996 has focused largely on the editing of investigative projects. He started the Times’s investigative unit in 2000. Projects he supervised at the Times on Mexican corruption (published in 1997) and the rise of Al Qaeda (published beginning in January 2001) were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. During his years at ProPublica, the organization won 6 Pulitzer Prizes. He is the co-author of “Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War” (2001).
2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting Panel Discussion
The Shorenstein Center hosted a panel discussion on Thursday, March 25, 2021 with the finalists for the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, ProPublica’s Neil Bedi, IndyStar’s Tony Cook, The Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond, The News & Observer’s Joseph Neff, Reuters data journalist Janet Roberts, and The Marshall Project’s Abbie VanSickle. The conversation was moderated by Setti Warren, former Shorenstein Center executive director and 2021 Goldsmith Prize judge, and current executive director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.
The winner will be announced at the Goldsmith Awards Ceremony on April 13th at 6pm ET. Register here to watch live.
You can find a recording of the panel discussion below. Special thanks to GBH’s Forum Network for streaming and recording this event for us!
2021 Goldsmith Prize Semi-Finalists
In a year of unprecedented and unceasing news cycles, the judges for the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting had a wealth of excellent nominations to review. Out of the 150 reporting projects submitted for consideration, the judging committee selected the following as the top contenders for the prize. It was from this list, originally 30 in total, that the six finalists announced today were chosen. Though the semi-finalists do not receive a cash prize, the judging committee and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Policy recognize and honor the the high caliber of these projects, the hard work that went into them, and the impact they have made on U.S. public policy and politics.
2021 Semi-Finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
“Banking Below 30” David Schechter, Jason Trahan, T. Nicole Waivers, Chance Horner WFAA-TV and Dallas Weekly
“Deadly Delays” Jack Dolan, Brittny Mejia, Ryan Menezes, Priya Krishnakumar Los Angeles Times
“Detroit Homeowners Overtaxed $600 Million” Mark Betancourt, Christine MacDonald The Detroit News, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Fund for Investigative Journalism
“Investigating COVID-19 Outbreaks at Meatpacking Plants” Sky Chadde, Rachel Axon, Kyle Bagenstose, Kevin Crowe, Erin Mansfield, Frank Hernandez, Doug Caruso, Emily Le Coz, Chris Davis, Pamela Dempsey, and Staffs of the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA TODAY The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA TODAY
“Racism in the KCFD“ Allison Kite, Glenn E. Rice, Mike Hendricks The Kansas City Star
“Returned“ Kate Morrissey, Lauryn Schroeder, Nelvin Cepeda, Ruby Gaviola, Michelle Guerrero, Michelle Gilchrist San Diego Union-Tribune
“Rising Waters” Tony Bartelme, Chloe Johnson, Stephen Hobbs, Rickey Dennis, M.K. Wildeman, Glenn Smith, and Staff The Post and Courier and The Pulitzer Center
“Testing the Limits” Lydia Chavez, Joe Eskenazi, Annika Hom, Julian Mark Mission Local
“The Cutting“ Rob Davis, Tony Schick, Lylla Younes, Jes Miller, Maya Miller The Oregonian/OregonLive, Oregon Public Broadcasting, ProPublica
“The NYPD Files” Eric Umansky, Joaquin Sapien, Topher Sanders, Derek Willis, Moiz Syed, Mollie Simon, Josh Kaplan, Lena Groeger, Nate Schweber ProPublica and THE CITY
“The President’s Taxes” Russell Buettner, Susanne Craig, Mike McIntire, New York Times Staff The New York Times
“Torn Apart” Pat Beall, Michael Braga, Suzanne Hirt, Daphne Chen USA TODAY Network
“Unheard“ Kyle Hopkins, Adrian Gallardo, Michelle Theriault Boots, Agnes Chang, Nadia Sussman Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica
Announcing the 2020 Goldsmith Prize Winner
The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
This year’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting could not be announced as it normally would be, in front of a packed house at the JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School. We know this was disappointing for so many who looked forward to celebrating the finalists and winner this year. However, our new physically-distanced reality doesn’t mean we can’t still honor their incredible work.
We are excited to today release this video announcement and celebration of this year’s winner and five finalists. Please watch and share widely so we can lift up these exceptional works of investigative journalism.
Join us on Twitter using #GoldsmithAwards to show your appreciation for the finalists, the winner, and the contributions of all investigative journalists who devote their lives to shining a light into dark corners of our world.
