Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

For other awards with similar names, see Goldsmith Prize.

The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting is an award for journalists administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The program was launched in 1991, with the goal of exposing examples of poor government, and encouraging good government in the United States. There is a $25,000 award for the winner.

The Goldsmith Awards Program is financially supported by an annual grant from the Greenfield Foundation.

Awardees

• 2023 - Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, "The Backchannel"^[1][2]
• 2022 - Hannah Dreier and Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post, "Fema Disasters"^[3]
• 2021 - Joseph Neff, Alysia Santo, Anna Wolfe, and Michelle Liu, The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, USA TODAY Network, "Mississippi's Dangerous and Dysfunctional Penal System."^[4]
• 2020 - By the staffs of The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY, and the Center for Public Integrity, "Copy. Paste. Legislate"^[5]
• 2019 – J. David McShane and Andrew Chavez of The Dallas Morning News, "Pain and Profit"^[6]
• 2018 – Nina Martin of ProPublica and Renee Montagne of NPR, "Lost Mothers"
• 2017 – Shane Bauer of Mother Jones, "My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard" ^[7]
• 2016 – Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza, and Esther Htusan of The Associated Press, "Seafood from Slaves" ^[8]
• 2015 – Carol Marbin Miller, Audra Burch, Mary Ellen Klas, Emily Michot, Kara Dapena and Lazaro Gamio of Miami Herald, "Innocents Lost" ^[9]
• 2014 – Chris Hamby, Ronnie Greene, Jim Morris and Chris Zubak-Skees of the Center for Public Integrity; and Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz of ABC News, "Breathless and Burdened: Dying from Black Lung, Buried by Law and Medicine"^[10]
• 2013 – Patricia Callahan, Sam Roe and Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune, "Playing with Fire"^[11]
• 2012 – Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of the Associated Press, "NYPD Intelligence Division"^[12]
• 2011 – Marshall Allen, and Alex Richards of Las Vegas Sun, "Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas"
• 2010 – Raquel Rutledge of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, report on "Cashing In on Kids"^[13]
• 2009 – Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post, investigative report "Forced Out"^[14]
• 2008 – Barton Gellman and Jo Becker of the Washington Post, investigative report "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency"^[15]
• 2007 – Charles Forelle, James Bandler and Mark Maremont of The Wall Street Journal, report on "unethical manipulation" and amassed millions of top executives
• 2006 – James Risen^[16] and Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times, investigative report "Domestic Spying"
• 2005 – Diana B. Henriques, business reporter for The New York Times, investigative report titled "Captive Clientele"
• 2004 – New York Times and Frontline, investigative report "Dangerous Business: When Workers Die". (received by David Barstow, Lowell Bergman, David Rummel)
• 2003 – Boston Globe, investigative report "Crisis in the Catholic Church"^[17]
• 2002 – Duff Wilson and David Heath of The Seattle Times
• 2001 – Karen Dillon of the Kansas City Star, investigative report "To Protect and Defend"
• 2000 – Donald Barlett and James Steele^[18][19] of Time, investigative report, "What Corporate Welfare Costs"^[20]
• 1999 – A team of reporters, of The Miami Herald, "Dirty Votes: The Race for Miami Mayor"
• 1998 – Duff Wilson, of The Seattle Times, "Fear in the Fields — How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer"
• 1998 – Michael Duffy, Michael Weisskopf, and Viveca Novak of Time magazine, "Abuse of Campaign Finance Laws"
• 1997 – Glenn Bunting, Rich Connell, Maggie Farley, Sara Fritz, Evelyn Iritani, Connie Kang, Jim Mann, Alan Miller, and Rone Tempest, of the Los Angeles Times, "Illegal Democratic Campaign Contributions"
• 1996 – Russell Carollo, Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith, and Cheryl Reed of The Dayton Daily News, "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on Payroll"
• 1995 – Lizette Alvarez, and Lisa Getter of The Miami Herald, "Lost in America: Our Failed Immigration Policy"^[21]
• 1994 – Neill Borowski and Gilbert Gaul, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, investigative series, "Warehouses of Wealth: The Tax-Free Economy",^[22]
• 1993 – Douglas Frantz and Murray Waas^[23][24] of the Los Angeles Times, investigative series, prewar policies before the Gulf War.^[25][26]

Nominees

News organization	Reporter	Title	Year	Summary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution	Carrie Teegardin, Danny Robbins, Ariel Hart, Jeff Ernsthausen, Alan Judd, Johnny Edwards	"Doctors & Sex Abuse"	2017
Chicago Tribune	Sam Roe, Karisa King, Ray Long	"Dangerous Doses"	2017
Los Angeles Times	David S. Cloud	"California National Guard Enlistment Bonus Scandal"	2017
Sarasota Herald-Tribune	Josh Salman, Emily Le Coz, Elizabeth Johnson	"Bias on the Bench"	2017
The Wall Street Journal	John Carreyrou, Christopher Weaver, Michael Siconolfi	"The Downfall of Theranos"	2017
The Guardian US	Jon Swaine, Oliver Laughland, Jamiles Lartey, Ciara McCarthy	"The Counted"	2016
InsideClimate News	Neela Banerjee, John H. Cushman Jr., David Hasemyer, Lisa Song	"Exxon: The Road Not Taken"	2016
The New York Times	Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Michael Corkery, Robert Gebeloff	"Beware the Fine Print"	2016
Tampa Bay Times	Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick, Lisa Gartner	"Failure Factories"	2016
The Washington Post	The Washington Post staff	"Fatal Shooting by Police"	2016
The Boston Globe	Thomas Farragher, Jonathan Saltzman, Jenn Abelson, Casey Ross, Todd Wallack	"Shadow Campus"	2015
The Post and Courier	Jennifer Berry Hawes, Natalie Caula Hauff, Doug Pardue, Glenn Smith	"Till Death Do Us Part"	2015
ProPublica and NPR	Justin Elliott, Jesse Eisinger, Laura Sullivan	"The Red Cross' Secret Disaster"	2015
Reuters	Joan Biskupic, Janet Roberts, John Shiffman	"The Echo Chamber"	2015
The Wall Street Journal	Christopher S. Stewart, Christopher Weaver, John Carreyrou, Tom McGinty, Anna Wilde Mathews, Rob Barry	"Medicare Unmasked"	2015
Center for Public Integrity, ABC News	Chris Hamby, Ronnie Greene, Jim Morris, Chris Zubak-Skees, Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz	Breathless and Burdened: Dying from Black Lung, Buried by Law and Medicine	2014
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists		Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze	2014
University of California's Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Center for Investigative Reporting, Frontline, Univisión Documentaries, KQED	Andrés Cediel, Bernice Yeung, Lowell Bergman, Lauren Rosenfeld, Grace Rubenstein, Stephanie Mechura, Ariane Wu	Rape in the Fields/Violación de un Sueño	2014
Miami New Times	Tim Elfrink	Biogenesis: Steroids, Baseball and an Industry Gone Wrong	2014
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel	Ellen Gabler, Mark Johnson, John Fauber, Allan James Vestal, Kristyna Wentz-Graff	Deadly Delays	2014
The Wall Street Journal	Michael M. Phillips	The Lobotomy Files	2014
Reuters	Scot Paltrow, Kelly Carr	Unaccountable	2014	United States Department of Defense bookkeeping
Chicago Tribune	Patricia Callahan, Sam Roe, Michael Hawthorne	Playing with Fire	2013
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution	Alan Judd, Heather Vogell, John Perry, M.B. Pell	Cheating Our Children	2013
Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, Public Radio International, Investigative News Network		State Integrity Investigation	2013	Corruption in U.S. state governments
Los Angeles Times	Jason Felch, Kim Christensen and members of the Los Angeles Times staff	The Shame of the Boy Scouts	2013
The New York Times	Charles Duhigg, Keith Bradsher, David Barboza, David Segal and David Kocieniewski	The iEconomy	2013
The New York Times	David Barstow	Wal-Mart Abroad	2013
Associated Press	Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley	NYPD Intelligence Division	2012
ABC News 20/20	Brian Ross, Anna Schecter and the ABC News Investigative Team	Peace Corps: A Trust Betrayed	2012
	Jim Morris, Ronnie Greene, Chris Hamby and Keith Epstein, Center for Public Integrity and Elizabeth Shogren, Howard Berkes, Sandra Bartlett and Susanne Reber, National Public Radio	Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities	2012
KHOU-TV (CBS Houston)	Mark Greenblatt, David Raziq and Keith Tomshe	A Matter of Risk: Radiation, Drinking Water, and Deception	2012
The New York Times	Danny Hakim and Russell Buettner	Abused and Used	2012
ProPublica, The Washington Post	Dafna Linzer, Jennifer LaFleur	Presidential Pardons	2012
Bloomberg News	Bradley Keoun, Phil Kuntz, Bob Ivry, Craig Torres, Scott Lanman and Christopher Condon	The Fed's Trillion-Dollar Secret	2012
Las Vegas Sun	Marshall Allen and Alex Richards	Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas	2011
Los Angeles Times	Jeff Gottlieb, Ruben Vives and The Los Angeles Times Staff	Breach of Faith	2011
National Public Radio	Laura Sullivan and Steven Drummond	Behind the Bail Bond System	2011
	ProPublica: Jesse Eisinger, Jake Bernstein; Planet Money, National Public Radio: Adam Davidson; This American Life, Chicago Public Radio: Ira Glass and Alex Blumberg	Betting Against the American Dream – The Wall Street Money Machine	2011
San Jose Mercury News	Karen de Sá	Sponsored Bills in Sacramento	2011
The Washington Post	Dana Priest, William Arkin	Top Secret America	2011	Top Secret America
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel	Raquel Rutledge	Cashing In on Kids	2010
The Boston Globe	Sean P. Murphy	Gaming the System: Public Pensions the Massachusetts Way	2010
KHOU–TV, Houston, TX	Mark Greenblatt, David Raziq, Keith Tomshe, Robyn Hughes and Chris Henao	Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard	2010
The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)	J. Andrew Curliss and Staff	Executive Privilege: The Perks of Power	2010
ProPublica and The Nation Institute	A.C. Thompson in collaboration with Gordon Russell, Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and Tom Jennings, Frontline]	Law and Disorder	2010
The Washington Post	Joe Stephens, Lena H. Sun and Lyndsey Layton	Death on the Rails	2010
The Washington Post	Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen	Forced Out	2009
The Charlotte Observer	Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordonez, Ted Mellnik and Peter St. Onge	The Cruelest Cuts: The Human Cost of Bringing Poultry to Your Table	2009
Detroit Free Press	Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick and Detroit Free Press staff	A Mayor in Crisis	2009
The New York Times	David Barstow	Message Machine	2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	Patricia Sabatini and Len Boselovic	Degree of Influence: Academic Corruption at West Virginia University	2009
ProPublica	Abrahm Lustgarten	Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies?	2009
The Washington Post	Barton Gellman and Jo Becker	Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency	2008
The Nation	Joshua Kors	Thanks for Nothing	2008
The New York Times	Walter Bogdanich and Jake Hooker	A Toxic Pipeline	2008
The Palm Beach Post	Tom Dubocq	Palm Beach County's Culture of Corruption	2008
The Salt Lake Tribune	Loretta Tofani	American Imports, Chinese Deaths	2008
Washington Post	Dana Priest and Anne Hull	The Other Walter Reed	2008
The Wall Street Journal	Charles Forelle, James Bandler and Mark Maremont	Stock Option Abuses	2007
The Boston Globe	Walter V. Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Beth Healy, Francie Latour, Heather Allen	Debtors' Hell	2007
Los Angeles Times	Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber	Transplant Patients at Risk	2007
Miami Herald	Debbie Cenziper	House of Lies	2007
Seattle Times	Ken Armstrong, Justin Mayo and Steve Miletich	Your Courts, Their Secrets	2007
The Washington Post	Dan Morgan, Gilbert M. Gaul and Sarah Cohen	Harvesting Cash	2007
The New York Times	James Risen and Eric Lichtblau	Domestic Spying	2006
The Blade	Joshua Boak, James Drew, Steve Eder, Christopher D. Kirkpatrick, Jim Tankersley and Mike Wilkinson	Uncovering 'Coingate'	2006
Copley News Service	Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer	Randy 'Duke' Cunningham	2006
Los Angeles Times	Evelyn Larrubia, Robin Fields and Jack Leonard	Guardians for Profit	2006
The Washington Post	Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith	The Abramoff Scandal	2006
The Washington Post	Dana Priest	The CIA's Secret War Against Terrorism	2006
The New York Times	Nicholas D. Kristof	The Genocide in Darfur	2006
The New York Times	Diana Henriques	Captive Clientele	2005
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution	Paul Donsky and Ken Foskett	Wired for Waste	2005
Atlantic Monthly	James Fallows	Blind into Baghdad	2005
The Oregonian	Steve Suo and Erin Hoover Barnett	Unnecessary Epidemic	2005
The Seattle Times	Ken Armstrong, Florangela Davila and Justin Mayo	The Empty Promise of an Equal Defense	2005
WFAA-TV, Dallas, TX	Brett Shipp and Mark Smith	State of Denial	2005
Frontline and the BBC		Ghosts of Rwanda	2005
The New York Times, Frontline, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation	David Barstow, Lowell Bergman, David Rummel and Neil Doherty	Dangerous Business: When Workers Die	2004
The Dayton Daily News	Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood	Casualties of Peace	2004
	Staff of the Gannett New Jersey Newspaper	Profiting from Public Service	2004
Los Angeles Times	Chuck Neubauer, Richard T. Cooper, Judy Pasterna	The Senators' Sons	2004
The Washington Post	Joe Stephens, David B. Ottaway	Big Green	2004
WTVF-TV, Nashville, TN	Phil Williams, Bryan Staples	Friends in High Places: Perks of Power	2004
The Boston Globe	Matt Carroll, Kevin Cullen, Thomas Farragher, Stephen Kurkjian, Michael Paulson, Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, Walter V. Robinson	Crisis in the Catholic Church	2003	Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston
Dayton Daily News	Mike Wagner, Ben Sutherly, Laura Bischoff, Ken McCall, Dal Dempsey and Martha Hild	Down on the Factory: Cheap Food, Hidden Cost	2003
The New York Times	David Cay Johnston	Tax Cheats	2003
National Public Radio	Steve Inskeep	Oruzgan Raid	2003
WFAA-TV, Dallas, TX	Brett Shipp and Mark Smith	Fake Drugs, Real Lives	2003
Wisconsin State Journal	Phil Brinkman, Dee J. Hall, Scott Milfred	Corruption in the Wisconsin Capitol	2003
The Seattle Times	Duff Wilson and David Heath	Uninformed Consent	2002
Knight Ridder Washington Bureau	Sumana Chatterjee and Susarsan Raghavan	A Taste of Slavery	2002
Los Angeles Times	Bob Drogin, Josh Meyer, Craig Pyes, William C. Rempel, Sebastian Rotella	Revealing Terrorism	2002
Los Angeles Times	David Willman	The New FDA: Partnership With Deadly Risk	2002
Orlando Sentinel	Sean Holton, et al.	Exposing the Flaws	2002
The Washington Post	David S. Fallis, Craig Whitlock and April Witt	A Blue Wall of Silence — False Confessions	2002
Kansas City Star	Karen Dillon	To Protect and Collect	2001
Chicago Tribune	Ken Armstrong and Steve Mills	The Failure of the Death Penalty in Illinois and State of Execution: The Death Penalty in Texas	2001
NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ-TV)	Renee Ferguson	Strip-Searched at O'Hare	2001
Orange County Register	Mark Katches, William Heisel, Ronald Campbell, Sharon Henry, Michael Goulding, Rebecca Allen and Tracy Wood	The Body Brokers	2001
ABC News, World News Tonight	Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz, Vic Walter, Jill Rackmill, David Scott, Dawn Goeb, Jud Marvin, Gary Fairman, John Detarzio, Dow Haynor, Stuart Schutzman, Paul Slavin and Paul Friedman	The Money Trail	2001
Seattle Post-Intelligencer	Andrew Schneider, Carol Smith	Uncivil Action	2001
Time	Donald Barlett and James Steele	What Corporate Welfare Costs	2000
Chicago Tribune	Ken Armstrong, Maurice J. Possley	Trial & Error	2000
Associated Press	Sang-Hun Choe, Charles J. Hanley, Randy Herschaft and Martha Mendoza	The Bridge at No Gun Ri	2000	No Gun Ri Massacre
The Blade	Sam Roe	Deadly Alliance	2000
Boston Globe	Robert Whitaker, Dolores Kong	Doing Harm: Research on the Mentally Ill	2000
Los Angeles Times	David G. Willman	Rezulin: A Billion-Dollar Killer	2000
Miami Herald	A team of reporters	Dirty Votes: The Race for Miami Mayor	1999
St. Louis Post-Dispatch	William Allen, Kim Bell, and Andrew Skolnick	Health Care Behind Bars	1999
Baltimore Sun	Will Englund, Gary Cohn	The Shipbreakers	1999
The Wall Street Journal	Alix M. Freedman	Population Bomb	1999
The Washington Post	Bart Gellman	Shell Games: The Search for Iraq's Hidden Weapons	1999
Newsweek	Michael Isikoff	President Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky Scandal	1999
The Seattle Times	Duff Wilson	Fear in the Fields — How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer	1998
Time	Michael Duffy, Michael Weisskopf, Viveca Novak	Abuse of Campaign Finance Laws	1998
Cape Cod Times	Anne Brennan, William A. Mills	Broken Trust: The Failed Cleanup at the Massachusetts Military Reservation	1998
Chicago Sun-Times	Chuck Neubauer, Charles Nicodemus	Investigation into Chicago City Hall Ethics Abuses	1998
The New York Times	Martin Gotttlieb, Kurt Eichenwald, Josh Barbanel and Tamar Lewin	Health Care's Giant	1998
The Philadelphia Inquirer	Loretta Tofani, Jeffrey Fleishman	Inside Tibet: A Country Tortured	1998
Los Angeles Times	Glenn Bunting, Rich Connell, Maggie Farley, Sara Fritz, Evelyn Iritani, Connie Kang, Jim Mann, Alan Miller and Rone Tempest	Illegal Democratic Campaign Contributions	1997
The Wall Street Journal	Jill Abramson, Helene Cooper, Phil Kuntz, Michael Moss, Glenn Simpson, Peter Waldman, John Wilke	Foreign Contributions Riddle	1997
Times Picayune	Chris Adams	Of Pain and Gain	1997
Kansas City Star	Joe Stephens	Ill-gotten Gains?	1997
Cleveland Plain Dealer	Elizabeth Marchak	FAA: Safety Comes Second	1997
The Boston Globe	Charles Sennott	Armed for Profit: The Selling of U.S. Weapons	1997
Dayton Daily News	Russell Carollo, Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith, Cheryl Reed	Military Secrets and Prisoners on Payroll	1996
The New York Times	Ralph Blumenthal, Adam Bryant, Stephen Engleberg, Douglas Frantz and Matthew Wald	The FAA, USAir and the ATR Turbo Prop Planes	1996
The Baltimore Sun	Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson	Honduras	1996
Star Tribune	Sharon Schmickle, Tom Hamburger	Who Owns the Law? West Publishing and the Courts	1996
Sun-Sentinel	Fred Schulte and Jenni Bergal	Profits from Pain	1996
Miami Herald	Lizette Alvarez, Lisa Getter	Lost in America: Our Failed Immigration Policy	1995
ABC News, Day One	Walt Bogdanich	Smoke Screen, Parts I and II	1995
The Dallas Morning News	Susan Feeney and Steve McGonigle	Voting Rights: The Next Generation	1995
The Washington Post	Dan Morgan	How Medicaid Grew	1995
Chicago Sun-Times	Chuck Neubauer, Mark Brown, Michael Briggs	The Rostenkowski Investigation	1995
U.S. News & World Report	Joseph Shapiro, Penny Loeb, Susan Headden, Dave Bowermaster, Andrea Wright and Tom Toch	Separate and Unequal	1995
The Philadelphia Inquirer	Neill Borowski and Gilbert Gaul	Warehouses of Wealth: The Tax-Free Economy	1994
Scripps Howard News Service	Lisa Hoffman and Andrew Schneider	Home Infusion: Medicine's New Vein of Gold	1994
The Washington Post	Athelia Knight	Murder on Trial	1994
The Dallas Morning News	Randy Lee Loftis and Craig Flournoy	Race and Risk: HUD's $67 Million Plan and Housing Deal	1994
Scripps Howard News Service	Andrew Schnieder, Peter Brown	FDIC: Protector Turned Predator	1994
Cleveland Plain Dealer	Ted Wendling and Dave Davis	Lethal Doses: Radiation That Kills	1994
Los Angeles Times	Douglas Frantz, Murray Waas	Series on Iraqgate	1993
The Seattle Times	David Boardman, Susan Gilmore, Eric Nalder, and Eric Pryne	Series on charges of sexual misconduct against former Senator Brock Adams	1993

See also

• Investigative journalism
• Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
• Goldsmith Book Prize
• Project On Government Oversight
• Government Accountability Office