Multiple Post honors at the 2025 Poynter Journalism Prizes
We are happy to share that The Post has earned a win and multiple finalists at the 2025 Poynter Journalism Prizes.
The investigative series 'Indian Boarding Schools' has won the Dori J. Maynard Justice Award, which recognizes reporting that shines a light on ignorance, racism and other systemic obstacles. This is the second year in a row that a Post investigative series has won the Maynard Award.
Sari Horwitz learned about the largely hidden era of Indian boarding schools years ago while reporting on criminal justice on tribal lands. Dana Hedgpeth, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian tribe in North Carolina had spent several months in 2023 gathering survivors' accounts of mistreatment at the schools. Their mutual interest became the impetus for an 18-month investigation that ultimately involved the work of 60 Post journalists. The result was a revelatory and visually arresting series that harnessed deep, primary-source investigative reporting and novel storytelling to present the fullest public accounting yet of the impact of the U.S. government's boarding school program. The winning work was co-authored by Emmanuel Martinez, Scott Higham, Salwan Georges, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Andrew Ba Tran, Nilo Tabrizy, Jahi Chikwendiu and Toluse Olorunnipa.
The investigation documented that 3,104 students died at the schools between 1828 and 1970 — more than three times the number the U.S. Interior Department reported in its own investigation. Children died from disease, from malnutrition and, in some cases, as a result of mistreatment or abuse.
In June, two weeks after The Post published its story on sexual abuse at schools run by the Catholic Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first formal apology for the church's role in inflicting a 'history of trauma' on Native Americans. And in October, President Joe Biden apologized to Native Americans for the U.S. government's role in creating and operating the boarding schools. Biden described the schools as 'a sin on our souls' and highlighted a survivor who was in The Post.
In announcing the award, Poynter said: 'The Selection Board had high praise for this work, citing it among the contest's best. This 18-month investigation gives the fullest public accounting of the impact of the U.S. government's boarding school program, including extensive reporting on rampant abuse by Catholic priests, sisters and others in charge of Indian children. The judges called it a series that stays with you forever – haunting, beautifully done, searing, probing, important, with stunning findings and writing.'
A separate entry from The Post, the 'Abused by the Badge' series, was recognized as a finalist for the Maynard Award. This series was also a finalist for the Batten Medal, which recognizes exceptional journalism that makes a difference to the lives of people and their communities. Amongst the findings of this groundbreaking, two-year investigation, The Post identified at least 1,800 police officers who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022. Reporters demonstrated how authorities have enabled predators by botching background checks and investigations, giving generous plea deals to officers who admitted to raping and groping minors, and failing to stop abusive school police. These two finalist entries were authored by Jessica Contrera, Jenn Abelson, John D. Harden, Carolyn Van Houten, Hayden Godfrey, Nate Jones, Alice Li and Tucker Harris.
'Capital Letters,' an ongoing series from The Post's local desk, headed by Lisa Lednicer, was also a finalist for the Roy Peter Clark Prize for Excellence in Short Writing, which honors compelling journalistic writing of less than 800 words. These ongoing series of pieces are character-driven, scene-based narratives of no longer than 750 words. They aim to capture what it's like to live in the District, Virginia and Maryland at this moment in history. The entry included just a small selection of this work, with a stories about a D.C. homeless shelter by Justin Wm. Moyer, a horticulturist at the U.S. Botanic Garden by Clarence Williams and a trumpeter who carries on a longstanding Memorial Day tradition by Michael Laris.
Please join us in congratulating all our winners and finalists, whose work from across 2024 is thoroughly deserving of these recognitions.
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