Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism
The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism recognizes exceptional reporting of stories of national significance where the public interest is being ill-served. Established in 1967, the annual prize is now administered and presented by the Nieman Foundation and includes a cash award of $20,000. The award honors Worth Bingham, a 1954 Harvard College graduate who achieved prominence as an investigative journalist before his untimely death at the age of 34 in 1966.
The Nieman Foundation hosted its first Bingham Prize dinner on March 5, 2009. The event featured an informative panel discussion on the challenges of investigative reporting, especially those faced by newspapers struggling for survival. Read a full transcript of the talk »
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2008 Winner: Staff writers Jim Schaefer and M.L. Elrick and their colleagues at the Detroit Free Press for their comprehensive year-long series “A Mayor in Crisis” that chronicled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s fall from grace.
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2008 Honorable Mention: Reporters Ken Armstrong (a 2001 Nieman Fellow) and Nick Perry from The Seattle Times for their series “Victory and Ruins,” which examined the scandals surrounding the University of Washington’s football team, winners of the 2001 Rose Bowl.
Judges for the award were Anne Hull, a 1995 Nieman Fellow and investigative reporter for The Washington Post who won the 2007 Bingham Prize with Dana Priest for “Walter Reed and Beyond”; David Heath, a 2006 Nieman Fellow and award-winning investigative reporter for The Seattle Times; James Asher, investigative editor for The McClatchy Company in Washington, D.C.; and Julia Reynolds, a criminal justice reporter with The Monterey County Herald and a 2009 Nieman Fellow.
Learn more about The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism »
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