Seven journalists elected to IRE Board of Directors along with two new Contest Committee members

IRE Board President Mark Walker of the New York Times was reelected to the IRE Board of Directors on Saturday, along with six new board members: Lam Thuy Vo, independent journalist; Simone Weichselbaum, NBC News; Mark Greenblatt, Scripps Washington Bureau; Aaron Kessler, The Associated Press; Darla Cameron, Texas Tribune; and Kate Howard, Reveal.

The board will meet to elect officers within 30 days.

New members of the Contest Committee are Elaine Tassy of Colorado Public Radio and Lily Jamali of Marketplace.

Full election results for the Board of Directors:

Full election results for the Contest Committee:

Steadfast unwillingness to release police bodycam footage in 2018 has earned the City of Huntsville, Alabama and its police department the 2022 Golden Padlock Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors. The award honors the most secretive government agencies in the U.S.

It would take three years, a murder trial, dogged media requests and a judicial order for the public to see the taxpayer-funded footage showing the fatal shooting of a suicidal man who called police on himself. When police arrived at the man’s home in 2018, he was sitting in his living room with what turned out to be a flare gun against his temple. A young officer entered the house, raised a shotgun and told the suicidal man to lower the gun from his head.

Seconds later, the officer shot the man in the face. The city refused to release the tape, reassuring the public it vindicated the officer. Three years later, after the city devoted $125,000 of public money to the officer’s criminal defense, the jury in the murder trial saw the footage and filed a guilty verdict. A judge finally released the footage to reporters in August 2021.

“In a year that featured a startling array of nominations detailing egregious acts of secrecy by governments across the country, this case stood out,” said Robert Cribb, chair of the IRE’s Golden Padlock committee which reviewed nominations from across the country. “This footage, created in the public interest, provided crucial details for a murder case. The intransigence showed by the city and police undermined the public’s right to know in ways that earned this honor.”

The committee also named four other finalists that exemplified the techniques of secrecy and obfuscation the award seeks to highlight.

The winner of the 2022 Golden Padlock Award was announced during the awards luncheon at the IRE22 conference in Denver. IRE invited Huntsville Mayor Thomas Battle and former Chief of Police Mark McMurray to Denver to accept the award, but received no response.

IRE's Don Bolles Medal for 2022 has been awarded to two Russian investigative journalists whose commitment to exposing corruption by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his regime led to them being forced to flee their homes to avoid imprisonment.

This year's recipients are Roman Anin, founder and editor of iStories, and Roman Badanin, founder and editor of Proekt. Both were subjected to raids of their homes in 2021, eventually forced to leave Russia in order to continue their investigative journalism.

The Don Bolles Medal recognizes investigative journalists who have exhibited extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance. 

"Putin has not only attacked Ukraine, he has also declared war against journalism and the truth," said IRE President Mark Walker. "In recognizing Roman Anin and Roman Badanin, IRE stands with them and other Russian investigative journalists who have been targeted by the Putin regime. Journalism is not a crime, and journalists should never be treated as criminals."

In April 2021, Federal Security Service agents raided the home of Roman Anin, as well as the editorial offices of iStories ("Important Stories") in apparent retaliation for the news outlet's reporting on the inexplicable wealth of Igor Sechin, head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft. Anin was interrogated about iStories' use of Instagram photos showing Sechin's ex-wife aboard a yacht valued at up to $180 million.

Anin has also worked on cross-border investigations with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 2009.

The investigative journalist was out of the country on vacation when he got word that it was not safe for him to return to Russia.

"Some sources told me that there was a big risk if I came back, that they would arrest me on the border because this criminal case, the searches were just the pretext for a broader investigation against me," Anin said.

In June 2021, authorities raided the homes of Roman Badanin and other members of his Proekt team as they prepared to publish an investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Russia's interior minister.

Proekt became the first independent news organization to be labeled by the Russian government as "undesirable," forcing Badanin to seek refuge in the U.S.

Anin's iStories received that same branding earlier this year.

"To be undesirable in Russia is to be public enemy," Badanin said. "Any kind of activity of an undesirable organization on the ground in Russia is completely banned, and every person who collaborates with an undesirable organization in any form can go to prison – sometimes immediately."

Both men are now continuing their investigative reporting on Russia from outside the country.

Former IRE Board member Phil Williams, who has spearheaded the nomination process for the Don Bolles Medal, said the selection of Anin and Badanin is a statement of solidarity with them and other Russian investigative journalists.

"Putin is known for his 'long arm' reputation for silencing his critics," Williams said. "With the Don Bolles Medal, we send the signal that the world is watching."

The Don Bolles Medal was created in 2017 in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Arizona Project, an effort led by IRE to finish the work of Don Bolles. The Arizona Republic investigative reporter was killed in 1976 by a car bomb in retaliation for his reporting.

Bolles’ death came a few days before the first national IRE conference in Indianapolis, where the veteran reporter had been scheduled to speak on a panel. At the time, Bolles had been investigating allegations of land fraud involving prominent politicians and individuals with ties to organized crime.

After his murder, nearly 40 journalists from across the country descended on Arizona to complete his investigation. News organizations across the country published their findings.

Their message: Efforts to suppress the truth will be met by even greater efforts from the rest of the journalism community to tell it.

IRE is adding its voice to the growing movement to persuade The Pulitzer Prizes to make participating in an annual staff diversity survey a condition of seeking journalism’s highest honor.

The IRE Board of Directors unanimously approved signing a letter asking Pulitzer officials to begin the requirement in 2024. The letter has been signed by more than 175 journalism entities.

Most U.S. news organizations have refused to participate in the News Leaders Association survey year after year, showing a glaring lack of transparency about industry diversity that is particularly troubling in this time of racial reckoning.

"Investigative journalism purports to be about accountability and shedding light on inequities. Yet that lens of accountability is rarely turned inward within journalism," said IRE Vice President Kat Stafford. "Change is uncomfortable. But, frankly, this isn’t an issue any of us should be neutral on."

IRE believes, as do the other groups who have signed the letter, that requiring news organizations to participate in a diversity survey before they can enter the Pulitzer contest would be a strong incentive to provide the data necessary to effect real change.

Pulitzer Prizes officials have said their board members may consider it at summer meetings.

For more information, read this Poynter.org story.

IRE is proud to present two showcase panel discussions during the IRE22 conference in Denver, tackling important themes of leadership, cultural reckoning, and the power – and challenge – of newsrooms working together. Both panels will take place Friday, June 24, livestreamed for virtual attendees and recorded for later viewing.

"Kicking Glass" features a powerhouse panel of women in command of some of the most successful newsrooms, brands and investigative teams today.

What were their paths up the ladder to the leadership positions they hold today, and what are the biggest challenges they face now? How do these accomplished journalists of color guide their teams as they cover reckonings outside the building – while examining reckonings inside it? And how do you encourage culture shift among teams without inviting the criticism that you’re more activist than journalist?

Dawn E. Garcia, director of the JSK Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University, will moderate a discussion among these panelists:

• Marsha Cooke, vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films and 30 for 30
• Katrice Hardy, executive editor of The Dallas Morning News
• Erica Henry, vice president/news, CNN U.S.

"Kicking Glass" will take place from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. MDT in room Colorado B.

"Banding together for truth," will take us behind the scenes of how 16 competing newsrooms teamed up to fight for access to videos of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

How did the media coalition that sued the government come to be, and has it set a precedent for future First Amendment battles? Hear from some of the esteemed journalists who took up the cause as they discuss the power of video to combat the denial of fact and address the question: Are we better together?

Pierre Thomas, chief justice correspondent for ABC News, will moderate a discussion among these panelists:

• Katelyn Polantz, senior reporter, crime and justice at CNN
• Charles D. Tobin, attorney and practice leader of the Media and Entertainment Law Group at Ballard Spahr
• Josh Margolin, chief investigative reporter at ABC News
• Elyse Samuels, visual forensics video reporter, The Washington Post

"Banding together for truth" is sponsored by ABC News and will take place from 5 - 6:15 p.m. MDT in room Colorado B.

Investigative Reporters and Editors has named its finalists for the 2022 Golden Padlock Award honoring the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.

Drawn from a competitive crop of nominations across the country, five finalists were chosen for their extraordinary commitment to undermining the public’s right to know through delays, denials, court challenges and even surreptitious monitoring of journalists. Among the finalists is a government agency honored for hiding details of how parolees left unmonitored committed offenses including rape and murder. Another attempted to impose a 55-year timeframe for the release of COVID-19 drug approval documents. A third has denied documents from a “transparent” review of state election protocols ordered by a judge to be made public. A fourth targeted university journalism faculty investigating a major philanthropic donation to their school. Another fought for three years to deny public access to police bodycam footage in a fatal shooting that triggered a murder trial.

"The strict internal codes of silence at work in these cases are breathtaking," said Golden Padlock committee chair Robert Cribb. "These finalists offer a compelling reminder of the essential role investigative reporters play in unearthing hidden truths and revealing how public officials paid with public money to uphold the public trust can find their strongest motivation in self interest."

The finalists for the 2022 Golden Padlock Award are:

1. The Arizona Senate for keeping secret thousands of documents related to a review of the state’s ballots and voting machines that courts have ruled should be public. The Arizona Republic requested and then sued for texts and emails behind an audit of voting machines in Arizona's Maricopa County to understand the details surrounding an election review conducted in secret. The courts have told the Arizona Senate and its contractor that the records must be released and even imposed a fine of $50,000 a day until the records are made public. Rather than paying or providing the records, the fines have now mounted to nearly $4 million.
2. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration for trickling out its response to a public records request at a rate that would take roughly 55 years to complete. A group of academics and scientists filed a request last August for records pertaining to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA denied a request for expedited processing, prompting a lawsuit. The FDA later proposed providing 500 pages of records a month, a rate that would have taken decades to fulfill. A federal judge rejected that proposal, saying the freedom of information request was “of paramount public importance.” He ordered the FDA to initially release 12,000 pages and then produce the remaining documents at a rate of 55,000 pages per month.
3. Utah's Department of Corrections for stonewalling public access to supervision records of violent probationers and parolees, including wrongfully redacting vast swaths of public documents. KUTV found evidence the department lost track of more than 300 parolees every month, some of whom committed serious crimes including rape and murder. Over more than a year and a half, the agency denied more than a dozen formal government records requests. While some records did come through mediation, they were heavily redacted. A First Amendment attorney who helped draft Utah’s public records law concluded that a "significant" amount of the redactions had been wrongfully withheld from the public. The agency said the reporting subjected them to “public hatred and humiliation” and has continued to fight against further disclosures. The station has now taken its fight for disclosure to the state level.
4. The City of Huntsville, Alabama, and the Huntsville Police Department for their steadfast resolve in refusing to release police bodycam footage showing an officer fatally shooting a suicidal man who had called police on himself. It would take three years, a murder trial, dogged media requests and a judicial order for the public to see the taxpayer-funded footage. When police arrived at the man’s home in 2018, he was sitting in his living room with what turned out to be a flare gun against his temple. A young officer entered the house, raised a shotgun and told the suicidal man to lower the gun from his head. Seconds later, the officer shot the man in the face. The city refused to release the tape, reassuring the public it vindicated the officer. Three years later, after the city devoted $125,000 of public money to the officer’s criminal defense, the jury in the murder trial saw the footage and filed a guilty verdict. A judge finally released the footage to reporters in August 2021.
5. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for a pattern of secrecy that includes paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight cases involving open meetings law violations and the disclosure of documents detailing campus sexual assault cases. This year, the university targeted a coalition of its own journalism faculty after members filed formal requests seeking the university’s donor agreement with Walter Hussman, an Arkansas media magnate who gave $25 million to the journalism school and who also lobbied against the university’s hiring of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. The university rejected efforts to release the donor agreement for months, and after it was leaked to a reporter, officials launched an investigation into the source of the leak. As the school was renamed in Hussman’s honor and faculty members pushed for details, records released earlier this year showed the university attempted to access data on the hard drives of faculty without their knowledge. The names of those journalism faculty members, and the rationale for accessing their computers, was redacted.

The winner of the 2022 Golden Padlock Award will be announced during the awards luncheon at the IRE22 conference on Saturday, June 25, in Denver.

Investigative Reporters & Editors is establishing the IRE Ring of Honor, a new fundraising initiative celebrating members who have made a significant contribution to the organization and to investigative journalism.

Nominations to the Ring of Honor can be made in tribute to current or retired IRE members or in memoriam to deceased members.

It’s a great way for individuals or a group of people to thank a friend or colleague for their service while also paying it forward by raising money for IRE fellowships.

Here’s how it works: To nominate a person to the Ring of Honor, fill out a short nomination form available under the "Donate" link on the IRE website. The nomination requires approval of the IRE Board of Directors.

If the nomination is approved, the nominating person or group must raise a minimum of $2,500 in the name of the person to be honored. Once that minimum is raised, IRE will add the person’s name to the Ring of Honor and memorialize it on the IRE website and in other IRE materials. The names of the new honorees will be announced at the next IRE conference.

Donors still will be able to add to the fund in the honoree’s name after they have been inducted to help grow the IRE Ring of Honor fellowship fund.

The fund for fellowships will allow qualified recipients to access IRE benefits, such as attending conferences, participating in training and networking with other investigative journalists.

For questions, contact Anna Lopez at anna@ire.org.

Robyn Vincent of Mountain West News Bureau and Sergio Martinez-Beltran of NPR’s The Texas Newsroom will serve as IRE’s 2022 Journalists of Color Investigative Reporting Fellows.

Vincent is building an inequality beat at the Mountain West News Bureau, a consortium of NPR stations serving the American West. She has been with the bureau since November 2020. Prior to that, she launched the news department at Jackson Hole Community Radio in Wyoming and was editor of an alt-weekly newspaper there. She is a graduate of Wayne State University.

Vincent’s project centers on the deaths of Indigenous people.

Martinez-Beltran, a Texas political reporter, has been with The Texas Newsroom, a public radio collaboration with NPR and Texas stations since March 2022. Prior to that, he was at Bridge Michigan, and he also worked for Nashville Public Radio. He is a graduate of Michigan State University. 

Martinez-Beltran’s project will dive into the mounting evidence that shows that migrant workers in Texas face uncompensated overtime work, harassment, and outright assault. It will also explore the powers that allow this to happen. 

IRE’s yearlong fellowship is designed to increase the range of backgrounds, experiences and interests within the field of investigative journalism, where diverse perspectives are critically important. The 2022 fellowship program is open to U.S. journalists of color with at least three years of post-college work experience.

Vincent and Martinez-Beltran were selected based on the projects they pitched in their applications. They will continue in their current professional roles while receiving a suite of IRE resources and support. These include training at an IRE data journalism bootcamp and both annual conferences, and they will receive IRE data services. Most importantly, they will each receive a mentor network of IRE members who will guide them through their year-long project. 

The IRE Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship was initially made possible thanks to generous donations from IRE members Meghan Hoyer, Megan Luther, Mike Tahani and Mike Gruss. Additional funding was provided by the IRE community and company sponsors ABC News, CNN, ESPN, Gray Television and Hearst Foundations. More than $100,000 has been raised to support the program.

Applications for the 2023 IRE Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship will be available in October 2022.  

If you’d like to donate to the fellowship, go here and indicate your contribution is for the JOC fellowship. 

If you are interested in participating in IRE training events, you can check them out here. If you are looking for financial assistance to attend any of these events, you can find the details here. 

Investigations that revealed the story of Florida employees poisoned while trying to earn a paycheck, uncovered the deaths of those working in scorching heat across the country and scrutinized the role of race and inequality in society are among the recipients of the 2021 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.

“The winners of the 2021 IRE Awards not only represent the best of the best in investigative journalism, but they serve as a true reflection of why our work is so critical right now,” said Zaneta Lowe, chair of the IRE Awards contest committee. “We saw powerful storytelling, projects with immediate impact and pieces that served as a true public service to their communities. This year's winners also included student work that made me proud to see where our industry is headed. Congratulations to the winners and finalists!”

This year’s winners were selected from more than 500 entries. The awards, given since 1979, recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The contest covers 17 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes.

Note: You must be logged in with your IRE membership to access stories through the resource center

2021 IRE Award Winners:

Print/Online (written word) Division I:

“The Secret IRS Files,” ProPublica, Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen, Paul Kiel, Justin Elliott, James Bandler, Patricia Callahan, Robert Faturechi, Ellis Simani, Doris Burke, Agnes Chang and Lucas Waldron   

Judges’ comments: This investigation made a once-in-a-lifetime leak of tax returns accessible through meticulous reporting and plain language and graphics. The reporters exposed the creative ways the world’s richest people amass unparalleled wealth while paying virtually no taxes. The historic effort revealed gross absurdities and inequities of the tax system, prompting a global conversation about possible reforms.

Finalists:

- “Airstrikes Gone Wrong,” The New York Times, The Staff of The New York Times

- “Hidden Interests,” The Wall Street Journal

Print/Online (written word) Division II (MEDAL WINNER):

“Poisoned,” Tampa Bay Times with the support of PBS Frontline, Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington, Eli Murray

Judges’ comments: 

“Poisoned” was an extraordinary and incredibly focused investigation.The data was difficult to acquire and piece together, making this investigation a step above the rest. On top of the stunning journalism, the lengths that these reporters took to get the certifications was remarkable and made it rise to the level of an IRE Medal. The judges were left speechless. Outstanding!

Finalists:

- “After Hours: Fostering Chaos,” KING5 Seattle

- "Unsettled: Cashing in on Accident Victims,” Minneapolis Star Tribune

- "State On Fire," The California Newsroom

Print/Online (written word) Division III:

“Wires and Fires,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/USA Today Network, Raquel Rutledge, John Diedrich, Daphne Chen

Judges’ comments: This project exposed a scourge in the poorest areas of Milwaukee: No one was investigating who was to blame for deadly fires that were caused by hazardous wiring. The project explored how powerful business interests, particularly landlords and developers, had weakened laws that would have better protected tenants from dying in fires at rental properties. The compelling visuals also showed exactly how to detect signs of hazardous wiring. The judges were particularly impressed with a consultant commissioned by the Journal Sentinel to spot-check the safety of rental properties in fire-prone areas – something the city itself had never done.

Finalists:

- "A labor camp, a Super 8 and a long bus ride home,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 

- “Windsor mayor investigation,” San Francisco Chronicle

Print/Online (written word) Division IV:

“Death Sentence,” The Indianapolis Star, Tim Evans, Ryan Martin, Robert Scheer and Ko Lyn Cheang

Judges’ comments: The Star’s work in “Death Sentence” shines a glaring light on what’s happening behind bars in Indiana’s jails. The fact that the team took on the task of counting deaths and piecing together an entire system, which hadn’t been done before, allows the work to stand out. The investigation also goes beyond accountability by examining solutions and offering information to the public, allowing people to find out what’s happening in jails in their communities. From the innocent people harmed and the impact on their families, to the perspective from law enforcement willing to go on record..the Indy Star weaved together personal stories and data, which made people care, and that was powerful.

Finalist:

- "Uncovered," The Post and Courier

- “Secrets of the Death Chamber,” The State

Video Division I:

“The Island of Secrets,” Al Jazeera Media Network, Al Jazeera I Unit

Judges’ comments: This was compelling visual storytelling by Al Jazeera that merged satellite imagery and shipping data to tell a more complete story about how the Indian government has been transforming a remote Mauritian island. The investigative team focused on data to definitively answer lingering questions about what was happening to the island. Journalists also overcame technical challenges to access information from the island. That included obtaining pictures and videos that more clearly showed the island’s infrastructure transformation over time. Al Jazeera also elevated the voices of island residents to shed light on the potential human ramifications.

Finalist:

- “Broken Medical Boards,” CBS Mornings

Video Division II:

“The GAP: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect,” KARE11, Brandon Stahl, A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert, Gary Knox, Ron Stover

Judges’ comments: This project revealed a stunning exception in the adjudication process that allowed profoundly mentally ill individuals who were charged with crimes to be released without appropriate care and supervision. In more than a hundred cases the state couldn’t track, these individuals would be charged with other crimes — including murder.  

Finalists:

- "Politically Charged," ABC15 Arizona

- “Aundrea's Final Ride: A Culture In Question," KMGH Denver7

Video Division III:

“Failure Factory,” Fox45 News, Baltimore, Carolyn Peirce, Chris Papst, Jed Gamber, Dwayne Myers, Ray Rogowski

Judges’ comments: Working off a tip from a stunned parent, Project Baltimore was able to shed light on how Baltimore City Public Schools failed to educate students while mismanaging funds. Between confirming "ghost students" and going beyond the publicly available data many stated was flawed, they were able to penetrate a system and develop relationships with sources to prove what had been happening - unnoticed - inside Augusta Fells Savage High School for years. When Fox45 initially broke the story in March 2021, City Schools tried to downplay the significance of the findings. However, after an internal investigation, they too confirmed Fox45's reporting. The Maryland State Department of Education even announced City Schools may have to pay back money that it received in 2019 to educate students who were not in school at Augusta Fells.

Finalists:

- “Utah's Parole Supervision Failure,” KUTV 2 News Salt Lake City

- “Attention to the Details,” WVUE-New Orleans

Video Division IV:

“The Death of Jamal Sutherland,” WCSC Charleston, Raphael James, Lisa Weismann, Nick Reagan, Katie Kamin, Thomas Gruel, Jennifer Dale, Carter Coyle, Jared Kofsky, Katilin Stansell, Rob Way, Live 5 News Staff

Judges’ comments: The story of Jamal Sutherland was compelling and emotional. The level of detail that Live 5  took to tell this story was incredible, talk about punching above your weight! Dogged reporting at its best – the importance of this story was demonstrated in the number of resources and amount of time the team dedicated to the project.

Finalist:

- “Breakdown: The Frontline Response to the Mental Health Crisis,” KSLA - Shreveport

- "Dangerous Pursuits," KARK - Little Rock

Audio Large (TIE):

“Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe,” Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Al Letson, Jonathan Jones, Kevin Sullivan, Michael I Schiller, Steven Rascón, Amy Mostafa, Sarah Mirk, Rosemarie Ho, Nikki Frick, Ko Bragg, Michael Montgomery, Laurel Hennen Vigil, Melissa Lewis, Jim Briggs, Fernando Arruda, Claire Mullen, Najib Aminy, Kathryn Styer Martinez

Judges’ comments: Through its compelling storytelling, interviews and years-long reporting, Reveal raises serious questions and ultimately casts doubt on the death investigation of Billey Joe Johnson. The team managed to obtain records in a state notorious for keeping them secret, which was just the start of what their investigation unraveled. Hearing the medical examiner admit, on record, that the case could now be viewed through a different lens was major. Ultimately though, while the focus of “Mississippi Goddam” may have been Johnson’s case, the team manages to tell a much bigger story about systemic racism in America. From beginning to end, the episodes reflects upon ugly truths of the past that continue to impact the present, revealing how race continues to play a role in the criminal justice system in our country.

- “Hot Days: Heat’s Mounting Death Toll On Workers In The U.S.” NPR, The California Newsroom, The Texas Newsroom, Columbia Journalism Investigations and Public Health Watch, Cheryl W. Thompson and Robert Benincasa (NPR); Jacob Margolis and Adriene Hill (The California Newsroom); Stella M. Chavez, Sara Willa Ernst, Dominic Walsh and Fernanda Camarena (The Texas Newsroom); Julia Shipley, David Nickerson, Brian Edwards, Cascade Tuholske and Kristen Lombardi (Columbia Journalism Investigations); Kim Krisberg and Jim Morris (Public Health Watch)

Judges’ comments: Outstanding collaboration and compilation of stories uncovering the dangers workers face outside in the heat from just doing their job. The team does a superb job of explaining the multiple levels of failures. From OSHA and its soft penalties and lack of inspection, to the companies that hire these men and women, and ultimately the federal government which could set the standard with a law. In fact, establishing that there’s no regulatory standard for heat in the workplace was revelatory! Furthermore, with a warming planet and climate change, this is an issue workers will continue to face, which makes such an investigation even more critical.

Finalist:

- “There Is Anger. He Should Be Alive,” KQED

Audio Small:

“Dig: The Model City,” Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Newsy, Eleanor Klibanoff Carrie Cochran, Karen Rodriguez, Maia Rosenfeld, Maren Machles, Kate Howard, Laura Ellis, Ellen Weiss, Rosie Cima, Mark Fahey, Zach Cusson, Mai Nolasco-Carranza, J. Tyler Franklin, Chelsae Ketchum

Judges’ comments: “The Model City” placed listeners at the center of how the city of Louisville failed to reform its police department despite participation in a key federal program. Relying on records and extensive interviews with local officials and residents, KyCIR transported listeners to multiple environments to better understand how far the city’s public commitment had unraveled. The focus on community voices also captured a collective grief that highlighted how much is at stake with future policy actions.  

Finalist:

- “Behind The Blue Wall: Officers Describe A ‘Toxic’ Culture Within Metro Police,” WPLN News/Nashville Public Radio

Student Large (MEDAL WINNER):

“Printing Hate,” The University of Maryland - Howard Center for Investigative Journalism

Judges’ comments: As the mainstream media reckons with its racist past, this collaborative project went well-beyond any of those efforts to show the complicity of newspapers in race-based violence by creating a permanent archive of the very hate-filled pages. In an interactive database and presentation and through more than a dozen stories of the lives lost, this effort ensures that this history is not tucked away in an archive and forgotten. The judges quickly realized this project was IRE Medal-worthy.

Finalists:

- “Little Victims Everywhere,” Howard Center for Investigative Journalism - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication        

- “Unmasking America,” News21

Student Small:

“The COVID-19 Money Trail,” The Daily Targum, Hayley Slusser, Madison McGay, Chloe Tai

Judges’ comments: Student work at its finest… landing an investigation that reveals wrongdoing, prompts public scrutiny, leads to reforms, and has meaningful impact. This caliber of work is among what you’d see in a professional paper. Impressive.

Finalists:

- “Alumni allege history of inappropriate conduct with female students by Princeton professor Joshua Katz,” The Daily Princetonian      

- “Real estate agents in school board land deal are accused of ‘working both sides,’ increasing cost to Alachua County taxpayers,” Fresh Take Florida

IRE Award for Sports Investigations:

“National Women's Soccer League,” The Washington Post, Molly Hensley-Clancy

Judges’ comments: A comprehensive look at a system of abuse inside the world of American women’s soccer at a time when the sport is growing in popularity. The Washington Post’s Molly Hensley-Clancy revealed allegations of verbal and emotional abuse within the National Women’s Soccer League and the inaction of its governing body. Through interviews with current and former players, Hensley-Clancy offered readers a glimpse at a culture of silence and questionable labor practices.

Finalist:

- “The Inside Story of How the NFL Got Its 17th game,” ESPN

- “Courtney's Story,” Defector

Investigations Triggered by Breaking News (TIE): 

- “What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol,” ProPublica 

Judges’ comments: A massive undertaking of data collection that uniquely captured the Jan. 6 insurrection from a wide range of vantage points. ProPublica’s exhaustive review of riot-related videos resulted in a unique interactive that provided the public with an early archive of history — work that would later be cited in criminal affidavits and Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing.

-”Unprepared: Texas Winter Storm 2021,” The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, Jolie McCullough, Duncan Agnew, Erin Douglas, Kate McGee, Jeremy Schwartz, Kiah Collier, Vianna Davila

Judges’ comments: The team’s coverage of a large winter storm was not just hard-hitting accountability journalism, it was public service at its best. A team of journalists worked under difficult personal conditions to provide Texas residents with basic information about their health and safety while also combating misinformation from public officials about the cause of the resulting power outages.

Finalists:

- “No Escape Plan,” Houston Chronicle

FOI Award:

“The Hidden Tab," Spotlight PA & The Caucus, Angela Couloumbis, Sam Janesch, Brad Bumsted, Mike Wereschagin and Sarah Anne Hughes

Judges’ comments: “Hidden Tab” demonstrated the true cost of government! Spotlight PA and The Caucus executed a multi-layered FOIA strategy to develop something that hadn’t been done before, and ultimately revealed the myriad of ways in which state legislators spend millions of tax dollars in questionable ways. Furthermore, they highlighted a dynamic that people don’t often think about in the per diem. The team’s work included bi-partisan reaction and a powerful solutions aspect in the form of what the legislature could do to be more transparent in the future, which could also lead to change. The team’s exhaustive process and method in which they leveraged FOIA fundamentally “opened government” and that’s a true example of what this type of reporting should look like.

Finalists:

- “Board lessens punishment in Title IX inquiry,” Madison County Record

- “Battling police secrecy in Alabama,” AL.com

Tom Renner Award:

“The Secretive Prisons That Keep Migrants Out of Europe,” The Outlaw Ocean Project and The New Yorker magazine, Ian Urbina

Judges’ comments: This project showed how European nations attempt to curb immigration from Africa in dozens of languages and multiple formats, ensuring it was widely accessible not only to those who participate in the system but those who are subject to it, serving as a warning. The team took great personal risk in this investigation, as they were literally kidnapped. 

Finalists

- “Beatings, bigotry and cover-ups at the Louisiana State Police,” Associated Press

- "Pandora Papers," International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Washington Post, Miami Herald and nearly 150 other media partners around the world

Book:

“Code of Silence - Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System that Protects Them, and the Women who Blew the Whistle,” Lise Olsen

Judges' comments: With few public records and reluctant sources, the judges were impressed with how much Olsen was able to publish on previously undisclosed judicial sexual misconduct at the federal level. Her detailed writing educates the reader on just how hard it is for survivors to speak up about workplace sexual harassment and assault, particularly when the perpetrator enforces justice. 

FINALIST

“Driving While Brown: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Versus the Latino Resistance,” Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block

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Contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working journalists. Work that includes a significant role by any member of the IRE Contest Committee or the IRE Board may not be entered in the contest. Work in which board members did not play a significant editorial role can be entered. First-round screeners may not review categories in which their news organization could compete.

Serving on the Contest Committee represents a significant sacrifice on the part of the individual contest judge — and often an entire newsroom — that may have done outstanding investigative work.

This year’s contest judges:

• Zaneta Lowe, WREG-TV – Chair
• Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th - Vice-chair
• Shannon Isbell, WBRC Fox6
• Angeliki Kastanis, The Associated Press
• Fernando Diaz, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern

To ensure fairness and transparency, some judges were not present during deliberations in specific categories due to potential conflicts of interest. They are:

• Angeliki Kastanis - Student - Large
• Shannon Isbell - Video Division 3

IRE, founded in 1975, is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to training and supporting journalists who pursue investigative stories. IRE also operates the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), a joint program with the Missouri School of Journalism.

For questions or concerns about the IRE Awards please contact Lauren Grandestaff, lauren@ire.org, 573-882-6668.

Investigative Reporters and Editors is pleased to announce that Gina Chua will deliver the keynote address at the 2022 IRE Conference in Denver, June 23-26. 

The incoming executive editor for a media startup founded by Justin and Ben Smith will address conference attendees in Denver on Saturday, June 25 at the awards luncheon. The keynote address and awards ceremony will be livestreamed and recorded.

“On behalf of the IRE board of directors, we are thrilled to welcome a journalist of Ms. Chua’s stature to give our conference keynote address,” IRE board president Mark Walker said. “Her dedication to journalism and the organization made the board’s decision an easy one.” 

Chua is a longtime newsroom manager with a career spanning three decades and five countries. Most recently at Reuters, Chua was executive editor, responsible for editorial operations. Before she transitioned, Chua — then Reg — held a number of other roles in the newsroom, including overseeing the graphics department and helping set up the data journalism team.  She was previously editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and spent 16 years at The Wall Street Journal in Manila, Hanoi, Hong Kong and New York. 

“Gina has been a steadfast supporter of IRE and investigative journalism for years, and her reputation for mentoring and training journalists precedes her,” said Cindy Galli, board member and conference committee chairwoman. “She’s a trailblazer in so many areas, and we’re thrilled to welcome her in Denver this June to address our members.”

Chua created and found funding for a fellowship to bring Asian journalists to New York University for a masters’ degree in business and economic reporting.  She speaks regularly on changes in the industry and ways to rethink and restructure journalism and newsroom processes; some of her writings are at Structure of News.  She transitioned in late 2020, making her one of the most senior transgender journalists in the industry.