The 71st Scripps Howard Awards: Honoring the best in American journalism

From international conflicts to environmental concerns and issues that touch everyone's life, journalists are there for it all. They are tasked with telling people's stories and holding those in power accountable.

This year, the best in journalism were recognized during the 71st Scripps Howard Awards, hosted by Scripps News' very own Christian Bryant.

“The journalism produced by this year’s finalists exposed wrongdoing, held the powerful accountable, shaped policies and helped correct historical records,” said Meredith Delaney, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Fund. “The 71st Scripps Howard Journalism Awards will shine a light on the responsibility these journalists have to tell their community’s stories – and serve as democracy’s watchdog.”

Veteran journalists and media professionals were tasked with picking the winners in 14 different categories, including excellence in breaking news and excellence in innovation.

The 71st Scripps Howard Journalism Awards finalists and winners are:

Excellence in Audio Storytelling, honoring Jack R. Howard

• (Winner) The Boston Globe in association with HBO Documentary Films – “Murder in Boston”
• Rococo Punch and iHeart Podcasts – “The Turning: Room of Mirrors”
• Serial Productions and The New York Times – “The Retrievals”

Excellence in Breaking News

• (Winner) The Associated Press – “Deadly Maui Wildfires”
• Lookout Santa Cruz – “Santa Cruz County Storms”
• Los Angeles Times – “A Massacre in Monterey Park”

Excellence in Business/Financial Reporting

• (Winner) The New York Times – “Alone and Exploited”
• KFF Health News – “Payback: Tracking the Opioid Settlement Cash”
• ProPublica and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in collaboration with the Medill Investigative Lab – “With Every Breath: Millions of Breathing Machines. One Dangerous Defect”

Excellence in Environmental Reporting, honoring Edward W. “Ted” Scripps II

• (Winner) The Washington Post – “The Human Limit”
• San Francisco Chronicle – “Firefighters are Being Poisoned by Wildfire Smoke. We’re Doing Little to Protect Their Health”
• The New York Times – “Uncharted Waters”

Distinguished Service to the First Amendment, honoring Edward Willis Scripps

• (Winner) The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle – “Marion Record Raid”
• Hearst Connecticut Media Group – “Transparency Failures Sow Distrust in City Marred by Corruption”
• Open Vallejo – “‘No Responsive Records’: How Vallejo Hid Killings by Police”

Excellence in Innovation, honoring Roy W. Howard

• (Winner) ProPublica and The Desert Sun – “Thirsty Valley”
• ProPublica – “Roots of an Outbreak”
• The Washington Post – “3D Analyses of Violence in the West Bank”

Excellence in Local/Regional Investigative Reporting

• (Winner) The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, Canton Repository – “Chaos in Ohio’s Youth Lockups”
• City Bureau and Invisible Institute – “Missing in Chicago”
• Miami Herald – “The Foreclosure Franchise”

Excellence in Local Video Storytelling, honoring Jack. R. Howard

• (Winner) KARE-TV Minneapolis – “KARE 11 Investigates: Broken Promises”
• KUSA-TV Denver and WTSP-TV – “UNDETERMINED”
• New York Amsterdam News – “Be-Loved"

Excellence in Multimedia Journalism

• (Winner) Reuters – “The Bat Lands”
• The Associated Press – “Adrift”
• The Boston Globe – “Nightmare in Mission Hill”

Excellence in Narrative Human-Interest Storytelling, honoring Ernie Pyle

• (Winner) NPR – “Ukraine Kindergarten”
• The Boston Globe – “Nightmare in Mission Hill”
• The Texas Tribune – “She Was Told Her Twin Sons Wouldn’t Survive. Texas Law Made Her Give Birth Anyway.”

Excellence in National/International Investigative Reporting, the Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize

• (Winner) ProPublica – “Friends of the Court”
• Reuters – “The Musk Industrial Complex”
• The New York Times – “Alone and Exploited”

Excellence in National/International Video Storytelling, honoring Jack R. Howard

• (Winner) FRONTLINE (PBS) and The Associated Press – “20 Days in Mariupol”
• FRONTLINE (PBS) – “Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court”
• The Center for Investigative Reporting, Motto Pictures and Netflix – “Victim/Suspect”

Excellence in Opinion Writing

• (Winner) Los Angeles Times – “Inside Out: Normalizing Incarceration to Increase Public Safety”
• Coda Story and Ukrainska Pravda – “Fallout: Tracking the Global Impacts of Russia’s War in Ukraine”
• The Washington Post – “Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness”

Excellence in Visual Human-Interest Storytelling

• (Winner) MSNBC – “On Assignment with Richard Engel: Ukraine’s Secret Resistance”
• El Paso Times – “Dreams, despair & death – A migrant’s journey. A year of covering the Immigration crisis”
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – “The South Got Something To Say”

The Scripps Howard Fund, in partnership with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, has also announced the winners and finalists for its two journalism education awards:
Teacher of the Year

Winner: Nicole Kraft, The Ohio State University
Finalist: Leon Alligood, Middle Tennessee State University

Administrator of the Year

Winner: Ann Brill, University of Kansas
Finalist: Laura Lindenfeld, Stony Brook University

Impact Award Winner

The New York Times – “Alone and Exploited”

The Scripps Howard Fund is the philanthropic arm of the E.W. Scripps Company, the parent company of Scripps News.