2026 Awards Finalists
Here are the finalists selected from more than 500 entries to the Deadline Club’s 2026 Awards Contest, listed in alphabetical order within each of the 36 categories. Winners will be announced and trophies given out at the Deadline Club’s annual Awards Dinner on Thursday, May 14 at the Harvard Club. Stay tuned for more information on ticket sales.
FINALISTS
NEWSPAPER OR DIGITAL BEAT REPORTING
- Business Insider “80 Over 80” Noah Sheidlower
- The Trace “The Secret Files of the Gun Industry” series Mike Spies
- Wall Street Journal “Toxic Fumes Are Leaking Into Airplanes, Sickening Crews and Passengers” Benjamin Katz, John West, Andrew Tangel, Peter Champelli
NEWSPAPER OR DIGITAL FEATURE REPORTING
- FORWARD “Holy Ground” Benyamin Cohen
- The New York Times “The Firefighter with O.C.D. And the Vaccine He Believed Would Kill Him” Joseph Goldstein
- The Trace “White, Legally Armed, and Primed for Political Violence” Mike Spies
NEWSPAPER OR DIGITAL BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
- Bloomberg News “New York’s Evening of Fear” Bloomberg Staff
- The New York Times “A Massacre on Park Avenue” The New York Times Staff
- Newsday “Team coverage of the eastern Long Island brush fires” Newsday Staff
NEWSPAPER OR DIGITAL ENTERPRISE REPORTING
- The Associated Press “Aging Africa” Matt Sedensky
- The New York Times “The Dawn of the A.I. Drone” C.J. Chivers
- Reuters “Meta’s Secrets of Success” Jeff Horwitz, with Engen Tham
NEWSPAPER OR DIGITAL LOCAL NEWS REPORTING
- Chalkbeat “Dreams Detained” Michael Elsen-Rooney
- THE CITY “NYC: Nation’s Capital of Immigration Courthouse Arrests” Gwynne Hogan, Haidee Chu
The Huffington Post “Five Days in Immigration Court” Matt Shuham
REPORTING BY NEWSPAPERS WITH A CIRCULATION UNDER 100,000
- The Highlands Current “High Anxiety” Joey Asher
- The Highlands Current “Beyond the Grid” Brian PJ Cronin, Leonard Sparks, Jeff Simms
NYCity News Service “Hundreds of Nursing Home Residents Assaulted by Other Residents Across U.S., Records Show” Cindy Marchionda, Quinn Waller, Erin Maher, Rafael Escalera Montoto, Cris Seda Chabrier
REPORTING BY INDEPENDENT DIGITAL MEDIA
- The Hechinger Report “How Trump Transformed Federal Enforcement of Students’ Civil Rights” Meredith Kolodner, Sarah Butrymowicz, Neal Morton
- The High Side “Investigative Reporting on the CIA” Jack Murphy, Sean Naylor
Streetsblog “The Moped King: How an Ex-Delivery Worker Upended the Streets of New York City” Jesse Coburn, Sophia Lebowitz, Gersh Kuntzman
MAGAZINE PERSONAL SERVICE
- Bustle “The Vanity Project” Rachel Baker, Nolan Feeney, Maggie Bullock, Chloe Joe, Allison P. Davis
- Consumer Reports “Inside the Chemical Risks of Black Beauty Products” Leigh-Ann Jackson, Ginger Cowles, Kathryn Marx, Lauren Kirchner, James Rogers
Cosmopolitan Magazine “Long Live the Sex Scene” Cosmopolitan Willa Bennett
MAGAZINE PROFILE
- Esquire “Yes, Bob, There Is A Santa Claus” David Gauvey Herbert
- Rolling Stone “Melissa Hortman Died in a Shocking Act of Political Violence. This Is the Story of Her Life” Stephen Rodrick
TIME “The Making of an American Pope” Belinda Luscombe
MAGAZINE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- Consumer Reports “Consumer Reports: Protecting Food Safety in America” Paris Martineau, Lauren Kirchner, Kevin Loria, James Rogers, Tim LaPalme
- Rolling Stone “TikTok Is Obsessed With Talking Parrots. It’s Fueling a Global Black Market” Rene Ebersole
- The New York Times Magazine “Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?” Emily Baumgaertner Nunn
MAGAZINE FEATURE REPORTING
- Bloomberg Businessweek “India’s Digital Dream, Hacked” Natalie Obiko Pearson, Suparna Sharma
- Wired Magazine “The School Shootings Were Fake. The Terror Was Real” Dhruv Mehrotra, Andy Greenberg
ARTS REPORTING
- The New York Times “Trump’s Culture War” Graham Bowley, Robin Pogrebin, Jennifer Schuessler, Abbie VanSickle
- Rolling Stone “The Artwork That Spawned 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Mystery” Kyle MacNeill
- The Wall Street Journal “Kelly Crow’s Business of Art” Kelly Crow
BUSINESS FEATURE
- Bloomberg Businessweek “The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World’s Most Popular Vapes” Timothy McLaughlin
- The Star-Ledger/NJ.com (NJ Advance Media) “Everything’s Gone” Karin Price Mueller
- Wired Magazine “The Epic Rise and Fall of a Dark-Web Psychedelics Kingpin” Andy Greenberg
BUSINESS INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- Bloomberg Businessweek “The Risky Movement to Make America Nuclear Again” Michael Riley
- Business Insider “The True Cost of Data Centers” Business Insider Staff
- Consumer Reports; The Guardian; the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) “Consumer Reports – Reporting – Investigating Pricing at Nation’s Largest Grocers” Derek Kravitz, Michael Hudson, Ted Genoways, Theodore Ross, Katie Wells, Eric Gardner
OPINION WRITING
- The Forward “Christian Nationalism Podcasting” Mira Fox
- Guardian US Columns “A Presidency For Sale” Mohamad Bazzi
- Rolling Stone “What You’ve Suspected Is True: Billionaires Are Not Like Us” Alex Morris
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, MEDICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
- Bloomberg News “Cancer Capitalism” Robert Langreth, Tanaz Meghjani, Rachael Dottle, Anna Edney
- Documented “Nothing to Go Back to: How Climate Change Is Driving Migrants From Their Homes to NYC” Jazzmin Jiwa, Carla Mandiola, Malick Gai
- The Washington Post “Young Cancer” Drea Cornejo, Ariana Cha, Dan Keating, Jahi Chikwendiu
SPORTS REPORTING
- The Athletic “In the wake of a fatal shooting, a college coach shows the essence of true leadership” Ian O’Connor
- Rolling Stone “The Predator in the Church Basement” Luke Cyphers
- Rolling Stone “The Bookie at the Center of the Ohtani Betting Scandal Is Ready to Talk” David Amsden
BREAKING NEWS PHOTO
- The Associated Press “Struggle for Food” Abdel Kareem Hana
- The Associated Press “Nepal: A Revolution in Miniature” Niranjan Shrestha
- The New York Times “A Year of Suffering in Gaza” Saher Alghorra
FEATURE PHOTO
- The Associated Press “Cooking In The Rubble” Jehad Alshrafi
- CNN “The Scars of War” CNN Staff
- TIME “Sudan’s Crisis in the Shadows” Moises Saman
SPORTS PHOTO
- The Associated Press “Run Scored” Godofredo A. Vasquez
- Newsday “Victory” Flip J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
- NJ.com/The Star-Ledger “Rutgers Catch” Andrew Mills
MULTIMEDIA, INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION
- The New York Times “Swept Away” The New York Times Staff
- The New York Times “He’s a Maximalist’: Inside Trump’s Gilded Oval Office” The New York Times Staff
- Reuters “Scorching Cells” Disha Raychaudhuri, Clare Farley, Travis Hartman, Adolfo Arranz
DIGITAL INNOVATION
- Bloomberg News “trAPPed” and “India’s Digital Dream, Hacked” Anand RK, Natalie Obiko Pearson, Suparna Sharma
- NBC News “The Vaccine Divide” NBC News Staff
RADIO OR AUDIO BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
- ABC Audio “Start Here: The Killing of Charlie Kirk” ABC Audio Staff
- Bloomberg “The US Attacks Iran Nuclear Site” Bloomberg Radio Staff
- WFUV “What’s What Podcast – Mamdani Wins NYC Mayoral Election” Sienna Reinders, Andrew McDonald, Alexandra Pfau
RADIO OR AUDIO FEATURE REPORTING
- Spectrum News NY1 “Bella’s Battles: The Activist and Icon Who Changed America” Anthony Roman, Errol Louis, Bob Hardt, James Ascuitto
- WNYC – New York Public Radio “The Peanut effect: How one dead squirrel upended New York wildlife enforcement” Jon Campbell
RADIO OR AUDIO INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope, iHeart Media “Levittown: How Deepfake Porn Moved Faster Than the Speed of Law” Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope, iHeart Media Staff
- NBC News Studios “Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley Murder” Andrew Goldman, Alexa Danner, Meghan Shiels, Rob Heath, Nora Battelle
DIGITAL VIDEO REPORTING
- NBC News “Hidden Invasion: Inside Rwanda’s Covert War in Eastern Congo” NBC News Staff
- The New York Times “Goodbye, Price Tags. Hello, Dynamic Pricing” James Robinson, Binyamin Appelbaum, Jonah Kessel, Adam Ellick
- The Record/NorthJersey.com “Families seek answers from troubled New Jersey group home system” Michael Karas
LOCAL TELEVISION BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
- News 12 The Bronx “Mitchel Houses Collapse Mayhem” Shane Moreland, Melissa De Jesus
- Spectrum News NY1 “Mass Shooting on Park Avenue” Spectrum News NY1 Team
- WCBS-TV “Midtown Manhattan Mass Shooting” Jennifer Bisram, Ryan Lopez, Joe Garufi, Christine Johnson, Dick Brennan
LOCAL TELEVISION FEATURE
- News 12 “Fantasy Flight to The North Pole” Jack Ford
- Spectrum News NY1 “The Father Who Refuses to Wait for a Cure” Louis Finley
- WCBS-TV “The Tale of Two Marijuana Markets” Jennifer Bisram, Phil Karstetter, Carlos Vasquez, Sarah Burke
LOCAL TV SERIES OR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- News 12 Network “TURN TO TARA: Under the Gun” Tara Rosenblum, Alan Flamenhaft, Audrey Gruber, Jean Salzarulo, Lee Danuff
- Spectrum News NY1 “Inside 26 Federal Plaza” Noorulain Khawaja, Spectrum News NY1 Team
- WCBS-TV “The Cost of Caregiving” Jennifer Bisram, Erminia Vacirca, Carlos Vasquez, Phil Kartsetter
NATIONAL TV BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
- ABC News “Flooding in Texas” ABC News Staff
- ABC News “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir: Los Angeles Burning” ABC News Staff
- CBS NEWS “Famine in Sudan” Debora Patta, Sarah Carter, Meshack Dube, Nicky Parkin, Javier Guzman
NATIONAL TV FEATURE
- ABC News “ABC News Live: America’s Care Crisis” ABC News Live Staff
- NBC News NOW “With prison system in crisis, NBC obtains new footage of violence against NY prisoner” Dan Slepian, Arleen Aguasvivas, Helena Gonzalez, Jordan Malter, Jill Billante
- Scripps News “Roman in Red and Black” Jason Bellini, Linda Pattillo, Dmytro Horyevoy, Steve Turnham, Matt Simon
NATIONAL TV SERIES OR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- ABC News “ABC News Investigates – Web of Danger: Inside the ‘764’ Network” ABC News Investigates Staff
- NBC Dateline “The Ruse” Dan Slepian, Lester Holt, Allison Orr, Samantha Springer, Brittany Tom
- NBC News NOW “How Shaken Baby Syndrome convictions tear families apart” Dan Slepian, Vruti Venkatesan, Kevin Portilla, Alana Miller, Jill Billante
THE MOSAIC AWARD
- The Associated Press “Aging Africa” Matt Sedensky
- The New York Times “Carrying My New Husband Across the Threshold” Michael Luongo
- NBC News and Bloomberg Law “Pregnant in Custody” NBC News Staff, Bloomberg Law Staff
THE LES PAYNE AWARD FOR COVERAGE ON COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
- THE CITY “NYC: Nation’s Capital of Immigration Courthouse Arrests” Gwynne Hogan, Haidee Chu
- Scripps News “Mississippi’s Infant Mortality Crisis” Michael Anthony Adams, Linda Pattillo, Steve Turnham, Matt Simon
- Wondery + Vespucci “Heat List” James Edwards, Matt Stroud, Erisa Apantaku, Philippa Geering
THE DANIEL PEARL AWARD FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
- NBC News “Pastors and Prey” Mike Hixenbaugh, Roberto Daza, Antonia Hylton, Elizabeth Chuck
- Reuters “Syria After Assad” Reuters Staff
- Wall Street Journal “Exposing Trump’s Secrets and the Epstein Files” Khadeeja Safdar, Joe Palazzolo, Staff of The Wall Street Journal
PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
- Bloomberg News “Tesla’s Dangerous Doors” Bloomberg Staff
- The New York Times “Exposed and Expendable” Hannah Dreier
- Staten Island Advance/SILive.com “Pride and the Parade” Staff