The Center for Investigative Reporting has won many prestigious awards over the decades, including being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize six times, and winning the National Magazine Award for General Excellence on four occasions. Below are some of the organization’s more recent awards.
2025
Nonprofit News Awards
Finalist: Best Investigative Journalism, Large Division – 40 Acres and a Lie
Finalist: Journalism Collaboration of the Year – 40 Acres and a Lie
Winner: Best Investigative Journalism, Large Division – She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad Just Before Giving Birth. Then They Took Her Baby Away.
Sigma Delta Chi Awards
Winner: Inequalities in Society, Online Only – 40 Acres and a Lie
News and Documentary Emmy Awards
Winner: Outstanding Research Documentary – The Grab
Nominee: Outstanding Investigative Documentary – The Grab
Nominee: Best Documentary – The Grab
Nominee: Outstanding Promotional Announcement Documentary – The Grab
NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards
Winner: Digital Media, Business – Black Republicans; and Beyonce’s Cover of “Blackbird”
Winner: Magazine, Under 1 Million, Single Topic Series – 40 Acres and a Lie
Winner: Podcast, Commentary and Discussion – Red, Black, and Blue
James Beard Media Awards
Winner: Columns & Newsletters – The Farm Bill Fight
Sigma Awards
Winner – 40 Acres and a Lie
ASME National Magazine Award
Winner – General Excellence
Finalist: Profile Writing – “Lessons From a Mass Shooter’s Mother”
ASME Best Cover Contest
Finalist: Best News and Politics Cover – American Oligarchy
Finalist: Best Illustrated Cover – Under God
ASME Awards for Design, Photography, Illustration
Finalist: Best Still Illustration – Serving Time for Their Abusers’ Crimes
Finalist: Best Still Illustration – Bad Habit
Webby Awards
Winner: Best Creator [News & Politics] – Black Power and Politics
Finalist: Creator Excellence, Best Longform Video – I Spent a Week With Black Republicans
Finalist: Individual Creator, News & Politics) – Eyes on the Far Right
Finalist: Individual Creator, News & Politics – Black Power and Politics
Society of Publication Designers
Finalist: Photo-Illustration – Trumpnesia
Finalist: Video Series – Race and History in American Politics
Finalist: Feature Video, News/Documentary – After the Crash
Finalist: Video of the Year – I Spent a Week With Black Republicans
Finalist – Original Digital Photography, Documentary – West Bank Midwives Are Facing a Maternal Health Crisis
Scripps Howard Journalism Awards
Finalist: Excellence in Business/Financial Reporting – The Grab
Pulitzer Prize
Finalist: Explanatory Reporting – 40 Acres and a Lie
IRE Awards
Finalist: Longform Journalism in Video – “He died in a police chase. Then the police vanished.”
Winner: Audio, Large – 40 Acres and a Lie
Overseas Press Club of America
Runner Up: Magazine-style, longform narrative feature – My Platoon’s Fight to Survive—and Heal From—the Bloodiest Battle of the Iraq War
American Mosaic Journalism Prize
Winner – Pajaro’s Quest to Rebuild
GLAAD Media Awards
Nominee: Outstanding Online Journalism Article, “First They Tried to ‘Cure’ Gayness. Now They’re Fixated on ‘Healing’ Trans People.”
IRE Philip Meyer Journalism Award
2nd Place – 40 Acres and a Lie
2024
Society of Professional Journalists Northern California
Winner: Longform Storytelling, Large Division – “A New Police Force Chased a 17-Year-Old Boy to His Death. Then It Vanished.”
Society for Environmental Journalists
Second Honorable Mention: Outstanding Feature, Large – “The Venus Fly Trap and the Golf Course”
Gerald Loeb Awards
Finalist: Feature – “Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a ‘Gold Mine’”
Online News Awards
Winner: Excellence in Social Justice Reporting; single story – “A New Police Force Chased a 17-Year-Old Boy to His Death. Then It Vanished.”
Finalist: Digital Video Storytelling; Long Form, Small/Medium Newsroom – “After the Crash”
NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards
Winner: Digital Media: Commentary/Weblog – “Race in America”
Society of Publication Designers
Gold Winner: Social Single Story/Reel – “Dry Run”
Telly Awards
Gold Winner: Non-Broadcast – Documentary: Short Form (Under 40 Minutes – “After the Crash”
Gold Winner: Social Video – Sports – “How the Story of Soccer Became the Story of Everything”
Gold Winner: Social Video – Social Impact – “Uncovering America’s Hidden Racial Realities”
Silver Winner: Social Video – Not-for-profit – “A Generational Game-Changer for Non-Profit Journalism”
Silver Winner: Social Video – Video Journalism – “The Coordinated Assault on Trans Health Care”
Bronze Winner: Social Video – News & Information – “Democracy in Danger: It Can Happen Here”
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards
“Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a ‘Gold Mine’”
National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence
Finalist: Digital Media – Commentary/Weblog – “Race in America”
Deadline Club Awards
Finalist: Magazine Feature Reporting – “Is This the End of Prison Phone Fees?”
Webby Awards
Finalist: Social – News and Politics
Winner: Social – News and Politics
Livingston Awards
Finalist: National Reporting – “Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a ‘Gold Mine’”
ASME National Magazine Award
Finalist: Video – “Race in America”
Finalist: General Excellence
Finalist: Essay – “Yes in Our Backyards”
Anthem Awards
Silver Winner: News & Journalism
Silver Winner: Social Media Content, Campaign or Channel
2023
Society of Professional Journalists/Northern California
Winner: Longform Storytelling, print/online large division – “Forever Home”
Winner: Photojournalism, photo essay – “Pajaro’s Quest to Rebuild”
John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Award
Winner: Single Story – “She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?”
Society for Features Journalism
First Place: Features Series, Division 2 – “How Private Equity Looted America”
Second Place: General Feature, Division 2 – “She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?”
Edward E. Murrow Awards
Winner: Investigative Reporting, Network Radio – “The Ballot Boogeymen”
Online Journalism Awards
Finalist: Digital Video Storytelling, Long Form, Small/Medium Newsroom – “She never hurt her kids. So why is she in prison?”
Society of Publication Designers
Gold Winner: Video: Feature Video: News/Documentary – “She never hurt her kids. So why is she in prison?”
Telly Awards
Silver Winner: Social Video General – Documentary: Short Form – “She never hurt her kids. So why is she in prison?”
Silver Winner: Non-Broadcast – Documentary: Short Form – “She never hurt her kids. So why is she in prison?”
Silver Winner: Social Video – Use of Stock Footage – “Welcome to Private Equity City”
Bronze Winner: Social Video – Video Journalism – “Souls and Polls: Christianity Is on the Georgia Ballot”
ASME Best Cover Contest
Winner: Sports and Adventure, Readers’ Choice – “Blood Sport”
Finalist: Sports and Adventure – “Blood Sport”
Finalist: Digital Design – “Looted”
Asian American Journalists Association Awards
Winner: Written Reporting, Feature – “My Family Lost Our Farm During Japanese Incarceration. I Went Searching for What Remains.”
Livingston Awards
Finalist: National Reporting – “Hazing, Fighting, Sexual Assaults: How Valley Forge Military Academy Devolved Into ‘Lord of the Flies’”
Finalist: National Reporting – “She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?”
Deadline Club Award
Finalist: Magazine Profile – “Blake Masters Is Peter Thiel’s Dream Candidate—and a Total Nightmare for Democracy”
John Bartlow Martin Award
Winner: “The Mother Trap”
Society of Publication Designers
Finalist: Feature Video: News/Documentary – “The Mother Trap”
ASME National Magazine Award
Winner: Video – “The Mother Trap”
Finalist: General Excellence
Finalist: Reporting – “The Mother Trap”
Association for Business Journalists Best in Business Awards
Honorable Mention: Explanatory & Banking/Finance – “The Smash-and-Grab Economy”
Anthem Awards
Gold Winner: Human & Civil Rights – News & Journalism – “The Mother Trap”
Silver Winner: Human & Civil Rights – News & Journalism – “Big Liars and the Coming Coup”
2022
National Association of Black Journalists
Winner: Magazine – Investigative – “The ‘Machine That Eats Up Black Farmland’”
Overseas Press Club of America
Winner: International Business News Reporting – “The Bitter Work Behind Sugar”
Society of Publication Designers
Gold Winner: Original Digital Photography – “See Myanmar’s Crisis Through the Eyes of the Photographers Risking Their Lives to Bear Witness”
Silver Winner: Original Digital Photography – It’s Not the Other America. It’s Just America.
Hillman Prize
Winner: Magazine Journalism – “Leaked Video: Dark Money Group Brags About Writing GOP Voter Suppression Bills Across the Country”
Telly Award
Silver Winner: General-News & Information for Social Video – “New Evidence: Trump Rioters Brought Guns to the Capitol”
Silver Winner: General-News & Information for Social Video – “Leaked Video: Dark Money Group Is Writing Voter Suppression Laws”
Silver Winner: General-Social Issues for Non-Broadcast – “Robinhood’s Design Won Awards. Now, It’s the Problem.”
Silver Winner: General-Documentary: Individual for Non-Broadcast – “Robinhood’s Design Won Awards. Now, It’s the Problem.”
2021
ASME National Magazine Award
Finalist: Community Journalism – “Whose Streets?”
Finalist: Community Journalism – “How Black Oaklanders Finally Expelled the School Police”
Finalist: Community Journalism – “Carroll Fife Is in the House. Now She Wants to Burn it Down”
NPPA Photojournalism Awards
Honorable mention: Magazine Cover – “End of Policing as We Know It”
Third place: Magazine General News Story – “The Black Hills Are Not for Sale”
Second place: Magazine Contemporary Issues Story – “Our Country Is Full”
Honorable mention: Magazine Contemporary Issues Story – “The Last Responder”
2020
ASME National Magazine Award
Finalist: Social Media – Mother Jones
Finalist: “Marshals’ Lawlessness”
Webby Award
Winner: “Behind the Lines in Syria”
Winner: “Disinformation”
Telly Award
Silver Winner: Social Video – “The Moment for Mother Jones”
Silver Winner: Online Series – “Behind the Lines in Syria”
Silver Winner: Social Video Series – “Disinformation”
SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award
Winner: Magazine Reporting – “Marshals’ Lawlessness”
Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
Finalist
Society of Publication Designers
Winner: “Moira’s Choice”
Deadline Club Award
Winner: Radio or Audio Investigative Reporting – “Marshall’s Lawlessness”
AAJA Audio Journalism Award
Winner: General Excellence – “Building a Wall Out of Red Tape”
SPJ Nothern California Excellence in Journalism Award
Winner: Features Journalism – “When Choice Is 221 Miles Away: The Nightmare of Getting an Abortion in the South”
2019
SPJ Nothern California Excellence in Journalism Award
Winner: Explanatory Journalism – Opioids Reporting
Society of Publication Designers
Finalist: News Documentary
Finalist: Animated Content
LA Press Club
Finalist: Animation – “Down the Line”
I.F Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence
Winner
Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
Finalist
Telly Awards
Silver Winner: Social Video Series – Immigration Video Reporting
Winner: Social Video Series – March for Our Lives Video Reporting
Bronze Winner: Don Blankenship video
Exceptional Merit in Media from the National Women’s Political CaucusWinner: Iowa Just Gutted Planned Parenthood and the Results for Women Are Brutal
Institute for Nonprofit News
Best of 2019: “Hooked”
Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award
Winner: News Podcast – “El Paso’s Nightmare Is America’s New Normal”
2018
SPJ Northern California Excellence in Journalism Award
Winner: Investigative Reporting – “Undercover With a Border Militia”
ASME National Magazine Award
Finalist: Social Media
Education Writers Association
Finalist: “Heavens to Betsy”
John Bartlow Martin Award
Finalist: “Rigged”
National Headline Awards
Finalist: “My Daughter Was Murdered in a Mass Shooting. Then I Was Ordered to Pay Her Killer’s Gun Dealer.”
American Illustration
illustration – “Heavens to Betsy”
South Asian Journalists Association Awards
Winner: “Inside the Growing Guest Worker Program Trapping Indian Students in Virtual Servitude”
2017
News and Documentary Emmy Awards
Nominee: Outstanding New Approaches: Current News – “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
SEAL Environmental Journalism Awards
Winner
Society of Publication Designers
Feature Video: News/Documentary – “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
Maggie Awards
Winner: Overall Magazine Category
National Magazine Award
Winner: Magazine of the Year
Winner: Best Reporting – “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
Finalist: General Excellence
American Psychoanalytic Award for Excellence in Journalism
“Inside the Race to Stop the Next Mass Shooter” and related coverage
John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award
“My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
Winner: “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
GLAAD Media Award
Finalist: “The Methodist Church May Split Over LGBT Issues. Meet the Lesbian Bishop Caught in the Middle.”
Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics
Finalist: “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism
Finalist: “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
American Small Business League Journalistic Excellence Award
“Giant Corporations Are Reaping Billions From Federal ‘Small Business’ Contracts”
2017 Izzy Award
Winner: “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard”
2016
National Magazine Award
Finalist: Best Reporting – “The Fever”
SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism Award
Journalist of the Year
James Madison Freedom of Information Award
National Press Club Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism
“How the Media Inspires Mass Shooters”
National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award
“Black Deaths Matter”
Folio Ozzie Award
Best Redesign
Association of Food Journalists
Finalist: Best Food Column
Best Writing on Beer, Wine, or Spirits – “Heart of Agave”
The Media Consortium’s Impact Award
“The True Cost of Gun Violence in America”