Barlett & Steele Awards

These awards honor the best in print and online investigative business journalism. They are named for two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Don Barlett and Jim Steele.

Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting

The Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting are unique among journalism prizes worldwide in that they were created specifically to honor cross-border investigative reporting. Formerly the ICIJ Awards, the prizes were renamed in 2008 in honor of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was slain by militants in Pakistan in 2002.

The two $5,000 first-place prizes and five $1,000 finalist awards recognize, reward, and foster excellence in cross-border investigative journalism. In addition, the judges at their discretion may award a special citation for work that is unusually enterprising or done under especially challenging circumstances.

Past ICIJ award winners have reported about abuses faced by immigrants in American workplaces; the involvement of Sweden in the CIA secret renditions program; and allegations of sexual exploitation of Congolese women and children by United Nations peacekeepers, among other issues of world importance.

The competition, held biennially, is open to any professional journalist or team of journalists of any nationality working in any medium.

The main criterion for eligibility is that the investigation — either a single work or a single-subject series — involves reporting in at least two countries on a topic of world significance. A five-member jury of international journalists selects the winners.

Two $5,000 first prizes are awarded: one to a U.S.-based reporter or news organization and the other to a non-U.S.-based journalist or news organization.

Previous Winners: 2011, 2010, 2008, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998

George Polk Awards

The George Polk Awards are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism. They were established by Long Island University in 1949 to commemorate Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered the year before while covering the Greek civil war. Winners are chosen from newspapers, magazines, television, radio and online news organizations. Judges place a premium on investigative and enterprise work that is original, requires digging and resourcefulness, and brings results.

Gerald Loeb Awards

The Gerald Loeb Awards were established in 1957 by the late Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of E.F. Hutton. His intention was to encourage reporting on business and finance that would inform and protect the private investor and the general public. As the most prestigious honor in business journalism, distinguished journalists and outlets nationwide submit entries to the competition.

UCLA Anderson [School of Management] has been presenting The Gerald Loeb Awards since 1973….

Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

The annual Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting honors investigative reporting that best promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics…. While the subject can address issues of foreign policy, a submission qualifies only if it has an impact on public policy in the United States at the national, regional or local level.

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 Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

I. F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence (Administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and the Nieman Watchdog Project)

Established in 2008, the I.F. Stone Medal recognizes journalistic independence and honors the life of investigative journalist I.F. Stone. The award is presented annually to a journalist whose work captures the spirit of independence, integrity, courage and indefatigability that characterized I.F. Stone’s Weekly, published 1953-1971.

Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) Awards

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, news gathering techniques and news sources.

The IRE Awards recognize “the best in investigative reporting by print, broadcast and online media.

After judging, all entries are placed in IRE’s Resource Center story library so that IRE members may learn from others’ triumphs and troubles. The contest helps identify techniques and resources used by the entrants.

The awards recognize outstanding investigative work in several categories. The top award given is the IRE Medal.

One of the defining characteristics of good investigative reporting eligible for an IRE Award is that it uncovers information that others have tried to keep hidden.

Izzy Award

The Izzy Award is named after maverick journalist I. F. Stone, who launched I. F. Stone’s Weekly in 1953 and exposed government deception, McCarthyism, and racial bigotry. Presented by the Park Center for Independent Media annually for “outstanding achievement in independent media,” the Izzy Award goes to an independent outlet, journalist, or producer for contributions to our culture, politics, or journalism created outside traditional corporate structures.

James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism

The James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism honor original, written reporting that brings to light widespread injustices, their human consequences, underlying causes, and possible reforms. This includes exposing discrimination based on race, class, gender, religion or sexual orientation; economic exploitation; violations of human rights, civil liberties or free expression; environmental degradation; and brutality to civilians in war.

The awards recognize work published in English in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and text-based online publications based in the U.S. We are particularly interested in reporting with the potential to foster systemic change or to help bring those who abuse their power to justice. A separate prize, the Grambs Aronson Cartooning with a Conscience Award, recognizes the achievements of political cartoonists whose work focuses on social issues.

The Award is administered by the Hunter College Department of Film & Media Studies and an Awards Committee of journalists and media critics. The Award is presented each spring at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

National Magazine Awards, Public Interest Category: Winners & Finalists.

The National Magazine Awards, Public Interest Category “honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance.”