2024 Awards
The annual Goldsmith Awards, presented by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, honor public service journalism that has an impact on United States public policy and the functioning of government.
This year’s event will take place on April 3, 2024 in the JFK Jr. Forum at HKS. We will honor six reporting teams (five finalists and one winner) that have done the best investigative reporting that has an impact on U.S. public policy in the previous year. The winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting is announced live during the ceremony.
The ceremony will also honor this year’s Goldsmith Career Award winner Nina Totenberg, who will hold a fireside chat with Center Director Nancy Gibbs during the awards ceremony, as well as the winners of this year’s Goldsmith Book Prize, and the inaugural recipient of a new Goldsmith special citation for reporting on government and policy implementation.
Scroll down for information about this year’s judges and honorees!
Ceremony Date
April 3, 2024
Note
The Goldsmith Awards are funded by an annual gift from the Goldsmith Fund of the Greenfield Foundation.
Judges
The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting finalists and winners are selected from the nominated submissions by a panel of nine expert judges. Judges recused themselves from voting on entries from their employers. Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center, chaired the judges meeting.
The 2024 Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize judges were:
Betsy Fischer Martin
Executive Director, Women & Politics Institute and Executive in Residence in the Department of Government at American University. Former Executive Producer of Meet the Press with Tim Russert.
Mike Greenfield
Trustee of the Greenfield Foundation (financial supporters of the Goldsmith Awards Program); Co-Founder and CEO of Change Research.
Corey Johnson
Reporter, ProPublica
2022 Finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Phillip Martin
Senior Investigative Reporter, GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting. 2022 Goldsmith Fellow at the Shorenstein Center.
Carmen Nobel
Program Director and Editor in Chief of The Journalist’s Resource, Shorenstein Center
Barbara Laker
Reporter, Investigations Team, Philadelphia Inquirer. 2019 and 2023 Finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Ayushi Roy
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, Deputy Director of the New Practice Lab at New America.
Marylou Sudders
Senior Policy Advisor, Smith, Costello & Crawford. Former Secretary of Health and Human Services of Massachusetts (2015-2023).
Bina Venkataraman
Opinion Columnist for The Washington Post, former Opinion Page Editor at The Boston Globe.
2024 Award and Prize Winners
Winner, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Alone and Exploited
A “chain of willful ignorance” allowed for unaccompanied migrant children to be exploited and working in hazardous conditions across the United States. The reporting led to swift reforms at multiple levels, agencies, and corporations. View the storyWinner, Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Overpayment Outrage
Winner, Goldsmith Book Prize: Trade
Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity
Winner, Goldsmith Book Prize: Academic
Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence
Winner, Goldsmith Career Award
Nina Totenberg
Finalists for Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize
Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Denied by AI: How big insurers use algorithms to cut off care for Medicare Advantage patients
Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Friends of the Court
Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Ghost Tags: Inside New York City’s Black Market for Temporary License Plates
Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs
Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
With Every Breath: Millions of Breathing Machines. One Dangerous Defect.