Today, the Livingston Awards honored exceptional journalists under the age of 35 for outstanding work in local, national and international reporting. This year’s winning stories include a local investigation into cases of abuse in New Hampshire’s taxpayer-funded, state-regulated disability care system; the devastating human impact of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) sweeping policy changes; and powerful documentary videos sharing first-person accounts from three men detained by ICE and deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The $10,000 prizes are for work released in 2025.
The Livingston Awards also honored Martin Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Miami Herald, with the Richard M. Clurman Award for mentoring. Named for the late Richard M. Clurman, former chief of correspondents for Time-Life News Service and the architect of the Livingston Awards, the prize is presented annually to a veteran journalist who has had a profound impact on the development and careers of journalists.
Livingston Awards national judges Evan Osnos, staff writer of The New Yorker, Stephen Henderson, founder and executive advisor to BridgeDetroit, and Kara Swisher, host of the podcasts “On with Kara Swisher” and “Pivot,” introduced the winners at a ceremony hosted by Livingston Awards emeritus judge María Elena Salinas, formerly of Univision, ABC News and CBS News. Dean Baquet, Livingston Awards emeritus judge and former executive editor of The New York Times, presented Baron with the Clurman Award for mentoring.
“The tenacity and humanity coursing through the work of this year’s Livingston Award winners is a testament to the irreplaceable role of deeply reported journalism in our lives,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of the Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Livingston Awards. “When we move past outrage loops, algorithms and AI content, it is still rigorously reported, thoughtfully produced human stories that illuminate the real-life consequences of our politics and policies.”
Celebrating its 45th year, the awards bolster the work of young reporters, cultivate the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and advance civic engagement through powerful storytelling. A year-round program, the awards provide industry training and create opportunities for public engagement through events where winners share their stories and offer transparency to their reporting process.
The 2026 winners for work released in 2025 are listed below.
Local Reporting
William Skipworth, 27, of The New Hampshire Bulletin for “A System of Harm,” an investigative series revealing systemic failures and horrific cases of abuse in New Hampshire’s taxpayer-funded and state-regulated disability care system. Drawing on court records, official documents and interviews with victims’ families, Skipworth chronicled vulnerable individuals subjected to daily beatings, rape and sexual assault, along with caregiver neglect that in some cases resulted in death.
“We often aim to measure our moral progress by how we care for the most vulnerable. Yet, when William Skipworth tried to assess a system touting its treatment of children and adults with disabilities, he met a wall of official silence. It would have been easy to move on in a newsroom of only three reporters. Instead, his skillful, tenacious quest brought lucid humanity to a pattern of hidden abuses, seizing public attention and empowering families to speak for those who cannot.”
— Evan Osnos, Livingston Awards national judge
National Reporting
Hannah Natanson, 29, of The Washington Post, for “Trump’s Reshaping of the Federal Government,” a series that revealed the far-reaching impact of DOGE’s sweeping policy changes. Through social media and encrypted Signal communications, dozens and sometimes hundreds of government employees wrote to her daily, describing their despair at seeing agencies and the mission they believed in crippled, and providing firsthand accounts and insights into inefficiencies stemming from the DOGE cuts.
“The Trump administration’s remake of the federal government calls journalism to some of its highest purposes: exacting comprehensive coverage; sensitive portraits of results and impact; careful reconciliation of promised outcomes versus real effects and consequences. Hannah Natanson of The Washington Post aces all three in her series of stories about the radical changes in Washington, with help from a network of more than 1,200 sources and unflinching determination. It matters immensely, in a time of both quiet and unwieldy oppression of counternarrative, that Natanson’s work continues despite an FBI raid of her home. This was not just journalism of excellence. It was journalism powered by courage.”
— Stephen Henderson, Livingston Awards national judge
International Reporting
Gerardo del Valle, 34, Alejandro Bonilla Suárez, 33 and Edwin Corona Ramos, 33, of ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, Alianza Rebelde Investiga and Cazadores de Fake News for “Taken to CECOT,” video documentaries centered on three men’s first-person accounts of being detained by ICE and deported to a prison in El Salvador accused of widespread human rights abuses, despite reporting finding no known criminal records or evidence of gang affiliations for any of the three men. In Spanish with English subtitles, the videos humanize their experiences and document a dramatic shift in U.S. policy that tests both moral and legal boundaries.
“Well before recent reporting on the government targeting and deporting people with no criminal records, this team of reporters exposed the practice where simple immigration violations resulted in horrific torture at the CECOT facility in El Salvador. The investigation found that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S., and only six had violent convictions. Nearly half were deported in the middle of their immigration cases. ‘Taken to CECOT’ is the story of our age right now, or carelessness combined with cruelty, where the demonization of the immigrant results in a nightmare for justice too.”
— Kara Swisher, Livingston Awards national judge
Mentoring Award
Martin Baron, who held the top editorial role at The Washington Post (2013-2021), The Boston Globe (2001-2012) and The Miami Herald (2000-2001), was honored with the Richard M. Clurman Award for his commitment to counseling, nurturing and inspiring young journalists. Throughout his distinguished career, Baron nurtured newsroom talent and mentored generations of journalists, extending his support beyond the news organizations he led to journalists elsewhere, including advising the founders of El Planeta, a Spanish-language news outlet serving Boston and New England’s Latino communities. In a video tribute, generations of journalists reflected on Baron’s mentorship and his lasting influence on their careers.
“For me, and countless others, Marty’s influence centers around his quiet and steady counsel. Amid the demands of leadership, he somehow remained accessible, a graciousness that extended to summer interns and to journalists who never worked for him.”
— Tracy Jan, investigative editor, ProPublica
More about the Livingston Award judges here.
More on the 2026 Livingston Award winners and their work here.