2017 Livingston Awards Finalists Announced

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The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the University of Michigan announced today the 2017 finalists in local, national and international reporting. The finalists, selected from hundreds of entries, will move to the final round of judging. The awards honor the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under the age of 35 in print, broadcast and digital journalism.

The national judges will introduce the winners on June 6, 2017, at a New York City luncheon.

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University of Michigan to support the vital role of a free and independent press, the awards bolster the work of young reporters, create the next generation of journalism leaders and advance civic engagement around powerful storytelling.

“The exceptional quality and range of the finalists is a testament to the vital work journalists are doing every day to foster understanding and accountability locally, nationally and internationally,” says Livingston Awards director, Lynette Clemetson.

The Livingston Awards regional judges read all qualifying entries to select the finalists in local, national and international reporting. The regional judging panel includes: Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, “Frontline,” PBS; Stella Chávez, education reporter, KERA Public Radio (Dallas); Chris Davis, Vice-President of Investigative Journalism, Gannett; David Greene, host, “Morning Edition,” NPR; Stephen Henderson, editorial and opinion editor, Detroit Free Press; Shirley Leung, columnist, The Boston Globe; and Amy Silverman, managing editor, Phoenix New Times.

The Livingston Awards national judges review all finalist entries and meet to select the winners. The national judges are Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent, CNN; Ken Auletta, author and media and communications writer, The New Yorker; Dean Baquet, executive editor, The New York Times; John Harris, editor-in-chief and co-founder, Politico; Clarence Page, columnist and editorial board member, Chicago Tribune; Anna Quindlen, author; María Elena Salinas, anchor, Univision News; Bret Stephens, op-ed columnist, The New York Times; and Kara Swisher co-founder and executive editor, Recode

Following are the 2017 finalists, for work produced in 2016:

International Reporting:

  • Heidi Blake and John Templon, BuzzFeed News and BBC
  • Samantha Bresnahan, CNN
  • Zach Dorfman, The Atavist Magazine
  • Hannah Dreier, The Associated Press
  • Alice Fordham, NPR
  • Mike Giglio and Munzer al-Awad, BuzzFeed News
  • Nelufar Hedayat, Lottie Gammon and Stefano Pozzebon, Fusion
  • Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
  • Ben C. Solomon, The New York Times
  • Megan Specia and Yara Bishara, The New York Times
  • John Sutter, Bryce Urbany, Deborah Brunswick and Matt Gannon, CNN
  • Ben Taub, The New Yorker
  • Francesca Trianni, Time
  • Elisabeth Zerofsky, Harper’s

National Reporting:

  • Tina Antolini, Gravy Podcast
  • Shane Bauer and James West, Mother Jones
  • Christopher Baxter and Matthew Stanmyre, NJ Advance Media (The Star-Ledger/NJ.com)
  • Fernanda Echavarri and Marlon Bishop, Latino USA/NPR
  • John Eligon, The New York Times
  • Lyndsey Gilpin, High Country News
  • Eli Hager and Alysia Santo, The Marshall Project
  • Amy Julia Harris, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting
  • Jarrad Henderson, USA Today
  • Brooke Jarvis, The California Sunday Magazine
  • Jackie Jesko, “Nightline,” ABC News
  • Dana Liebelson, Ryan Reilly and Shane Shifflett, The Huffington Post
  • Terrence McCoy, The Washington Post
  • Lillian Mongeau, The Hechinger Report
  • Eli Saslow, The Washington Post
  • Catherine Shoichet and Evelio Contreras, CNN
  • Brandon Sneed, Bleacher Report
  • Mike Spies, The Trace
  • Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker
  • Reeves Wiedeman, New York Magazine

Local Reporting:

  • Amy Brittain, The Washington Post
  • Ricardo Cano and Caitlin McGlade, The Arizona Republic
  • Jacob Carpenter, Naples Daily News
  • Courtney Crowder, The Des Moines Register
  • Claire Galofaro, The Associated Press
  • Sarah Gonzalez, WNYC
  • Molly Harbarger, The Oregonian/OregonLive
  • Paul Heintz, Seven Days
  • Stephen Hobbs, Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
  • Kala Kachmar, Asbury Park Press
  • Vince Lattanzio and Morgan Zalot, NBC10 Philadelphia (WCAU)
  • Andy Mannix, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.
  • Jonah Newman, The Chicago Reporter
  • Brian Rosenthal, Houston Chronicle
  • Zachary Sampson, Laura Morel and Eli Murray, Tampa Bay Times
  • Neena Satija, Kiah Collier, Al Shaw, Jeff Larson and Ryan Murphy, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune;
  • Alex Stuckey, The Salt Lake Tribune
  • Sisi Wei, Lena Groeger, Cezary Podkul and Ken Schwencke, ProPublica

 
More on the finalists and links to their work »

Livingston Awards Finalists Move to Final Round of Judging

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the University of Michigan announce the 2016 finalists in local, national and international reporting. The finalists, who represent the top ten percent of entries received, will move to the final round of judging. The awards honor the best professionals under the age of 35 in traditional and new forms of journalism.

2006 Finalists graphic

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University of Michigan to support a new emphasis on digital media efforts, the program continues to see an increase in digital submissions, with a 20 percent increase in digital entries over last year. Since the funding initiative began three years ago, digital entries increased 170 percent and overall entries increased 65 percent.

The Livingston Awards national judging panel reviews all final entries and meets in person to select the winners in local, national and international reporting. The national judges are Christiane Amanpour, host of CNN International’s “Amanpour” and chief international correspondent for CNN; Ken Auletta, media and communications writer for The New Yorker; Dean Baquet, executive editor, The New York Times; Ellen Goodman, author, co-founder and director of The Conversation Project; John Harris, editor-in-chief, POLITICO; Clarence Page, syndicated columnist; Anna Quindlen, author; and Kara Swisher, executive editor, Re/code, host of Re/code Decode podcast and co-executive producer of Code Conference.

“Being named a finalist signifies high achievement and the promise of more and even better things to come,” said Charles Eisendrath, Livingston Awards founding director. “Each year, the judging process begins with a reading out of the names, titles and subjects of this fine work. Then follows a discussion among the judges that I consider the best seminar of the year about the ingredients of great journalism, no matter in which branch of the media.”

The national judges will introduce the winners on June 8, 2016, at a New York City luncheon.

Following are the 2016 finalists.

International Reporting:

  • Jake Abrahamson, Sierra Magazine
  • Adrian Chen, The New York Times Magazine
  • Joseph Goldstein, The New York Times
  • Brooke Jarvis, The California Sunday Magazine
  • Azmat Khan, BuzzFeed News
  • Natasha Khan and Hui Li, Bloomberg News
  • Simon Ostrovsky, VICE News
  • Jennifer Percy, The New York Times Magazine
  • J. Weston Phippen, The Atlantic
  • Scott Sayare, Harper’s Magazine
  • Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
  • Christian Stephen, Freelance Society Productions
  • Alice Su, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and The Atlantic

 

National Reporting:

  • Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker
  • Mike Baker and Daniel Wagner, The Seattle Times, The Center for Public Integrity and BuzzFeed News
  • Caitlin Dickerson, NPR
  • Catherine Dunn, International Business Times
  • Robert Faturechi, ProPublica
  • David Ferry, Mother Jones
  • Alissa Figueroa and Connie Fossi, Fusion
  • Azeen Ghorayshi, BuzzFeed News
  • Dana Goldstein, The Marshall Project in partnership with Slate
  • Michael Grabell and Lena Groeger, ProPublica
  • Lindsey Konkel, Newsweek
  • Jeff Larson, ProPublica
  • Dana Liebelson, The Huffington Post
  • Dan Lieberman, Fusion
  • Rachel Monroe, Matter
  • Tricia L. Nadolny, The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Anahad O’Connor, The New York Times
  • Steve Reilly, USA Today
  • Alysia Santo, The Marshall Project
  • Eli Saslow, The Washington Post
  • Joseph Walker, The Wall Street Journal

 

Local Reporting:

  • Jonathan Blitzer, The Oxford American
  • Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press
  • Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun
  • Jessica Floum, Sarasota Herald Tribune
  • Gus Garcia-Roberts, Newsday (Long Island, NY)
  • Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post
  • Mike Hixenbaugh and Jason Paladino, The Virginian-Pilot in partnership with the Investigative Reporting Program and NBC News
  • Mirela Iverac, WNYC Radio
  • Marisa Kashino, Washingtonian
  • Charlotte Keith, Investigative Post
  • Michael LaForgia, Nathaniel Lash and Lisa Gartner, Tampa Bay Times
  • J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez, Austin American-Statesman
  • Jonah Newman, The Chicago Reporter
  • Cezary Podkul and Marcelo Rochabrun, ProPublica
  • Brian Rosenthal, Houston Chronicle
  • Lindsey Smith, Michigan Radio
  • Halle Stockton and Alexandra Kanik, PublicSource
  • Perla Trevizo, Fernanda Echavarri and Mike Christy, Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Public Media
  • Alexandra Zayas and Kameel Stanley, Tampa Bay Times

 
More on finalists’ work »

About The Livingston Awards:

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists are the most prestigious honor for professional journalists under the age of 35 and are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in American journalism. Entries from print, broadcast and online journalism are judged against one another as technology blurs distinctions between branches of the traditional platforms. The $10,000 prizes, awarded annually for local, national and international reporting, are sponsored by the University of Michigan, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Indian Trail Charitable Foundation. The Livingston Awards are administered by Wallace House at the University of Michigan, home to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists. Learn more at wallacehouse.umich.edu/Livingston-awards. 

 

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation:

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more information, visit knightfoundation.org.