From left: Nieman journalism award winners and finalists Manny García, Jodi S. Cohen, Jennifer Smith Richards, Wendi C. Thomas, Brett Murphy, Raquel Rutledge. NF '12, and Tony Plohetski at Lippmann House, May 5, 2023.
During a ceremony at Walter Lippmann House at Harvard University on May 5, 2023, the Nieman Foundation presented three of its annual journalism awards to the 2023 winners and finalists. Award recipients from the three previous years, who had been unable to receive their certificates in person due to COVID-19 restrictions, also attended and were recognized for their exceptional achievements.
The 2023 Winners:
- The I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence
Wendi C. Thomas, founding editor and publisher of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit newsroom in Memphis, Tennessee - The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism
“The Price Kids Pay,,” a joint investigation by Jodi S. Cohen at ProPublica and Jennifer Smith Richards at the Chicago Tribune that exposed a loophole that for years allowed Illinois police to routinely issue tickets to children for minor misconduct - The Taylor Award for Fairness in Journalism
Winner: The Austin American-Statesman for its responsive reporting in the aftermath of the May 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed.- Taylor Award finalists: “Words of Conviction: Tracing a Junk Science Through the Justice System” an investigation of 911 call analysis by ProPublica reporter Brett Murphy, and “The Landlord and the Tenant” a long-form narrative account of the systemic failures that led to a deadly fire in Milwaukee in 2013 by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Raquel Rutledge and ProPublica reporter Ken Armstrong
After the awards were presented, Wendi C. Thomas, Tony Plohetski, and Jennifer Smith Richards spoke with moderator Jasmine Brown about their work. Brown is a senior producer for ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir,” a member of the I.F. Stone Medal Selection Committee and a 2020 Nieman Fellow.