Celebrating excellence: Highlights from the 2024 EPPY Award Winners

Best News or Event Feature (1 million or more unique visitors)

Detroit Free Press (Georgea Kovanis and Mandi Wright) for “Amid addiction: Finding purpose”

2^nd place: USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “U.S. Counties are blocking the future of renewable energy”

3^rd place: NBC News Digital for “Who tried to steal Graceland?”

The Detroit Free Press took top honors in Best News or Event Feature (1 million or more unique visitors) for “Amid addition: Finding purpose.”

Detroit Free Press Reporter Georgea Kovanis (left) and Photographer Mandi Wright stand near a burn-out house on Harding Street in Detroit where their reporting on the opioid crisis led them to during their work. (Photo credit: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press)

Best News or Event Feature (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Truthdig (Lillian Perlmutter) for “Dig: At the Border in 2024”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged (Cyril Zenda) for “A force for good in Africa”

3^rd place: Religion Unplugged (Paul Glader and Mary Cuddehe) for “High Plains Grifter”

Best Business Reporting (1 million or more unique visitors)

Bloomberg News for “Bad medicine”

2^nd place: NBC News for “440 kids’ deaths in 50 years: How the U.S. failed to stop a Household item from killing children”

3^rd place: Bloomberg News for “Worker power”

Winning for Best Business Reporting (1 million or more unique visitors), Bloomberg News explored how porous regulations and manufacturing shortcuts allowed dangerous drugs to circulate around the world. These stories revealed the failures that enabled poisoned cough syrup, contaminated eyedrops and tainted cancer drugs — all of which sickened and killed victims around the globe. (Photo credit: Ina Jang, photographer/Bloomberg Businessweek)

Reporter Andrew Schwartz of The Chattanooga Times Free Press won first place in the Best Business Reporting (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) category for “Croft and Frost Investigation and series.” (Photo credit: Robin Rudd/The Chattanooga Times Free Press.)

Best Business Reporting (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

The Chattanooga Times Free Press (Andrew Schwartz) for “Croft and Frost Investigation and series”

2^nd place: The Examination, The Museba Project and Ghana Business News, Grist (Will Fitzgibbon, Christian Locka and Emmanuel K. Dogbevi) for “Indian companies are Bringing one of the world’s most toxic industries to Africa. People are getting sick.”

3^rd place: Religion Unplugged (Paul Glader and Mary Cuddehe) for “High Plains Grifter”

Best Business/Finance Blog (1 million or more unique visitors)

Yahoo Finance for “Yahoo Finance Rick Newman Inflation Coverage”

Columnist Amy Lindgren took top honors in the Best Business/Finance Blog category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “Working Strategies.” Lindgren said, “I’m trying not to gush. It is thrilling to be recognized by peers from within the trade. Providing current, insightful and usable information is the critical reason we all do this work. I’m happy for everyone who has been recognized and happy to be keeping such excellent company.”

Best Business/Finance Blog (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Amy Lindgren for “Working Strategies”

Best News/Political Blog (1 million or more unique visitors)

MSNBC Digital for “The ReidOut Blog”

2^nd place: Raw Story

MSNBC won first place in the Best News/Political Blog category (1 million or more unique visitors) for “The ReidOut Blog,” written by Ja’han Jones. Responding to the award, MSNBC wrote, “MSNBC Digital is thrilled to accept this EPPY Award and proud of the work Ja’han Jones and the team produce every day to help readers better understand the news. Ja’han is adept at spotlighting important, under-the-radar stories and providing thoughtful, compelling commentary on some of the biggest developments of the day.”

Charlotte Clymer took top honors in the Best News/Political Blog category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “Charlotte’s Web Thoughts.” Clymer said, “It’s an enormous honor to be in this illustrious company of journalists and thought leaders. My thanks to E&P for recognizing the wide breadth of stellar work in American media.”

Best News/Political Blog (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Charlotte Clymer for “Charlotte’s Web Thoughts”

Best Use of Data/Infographics (1 million or more unique visitors)

USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “The collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge”

2^nd place: USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “Visualizing death and destruction in Gaza”

3^rd place: Bloomberg News for “Corporate America promised to hire a lot more People of Color. It actually did.”

USA TODAY won the top prize in the Best Use of Data/Infographics category (1 million or more unique visitors) for “The collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge.”

In response to their EPPY, Shawn Sullivan, editor, Interactive Graphics, said: “The USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization team is grateful to be recognized by the EPPY Awards, including placing first for Best Use of Data/Infographics for our coverage of the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge. This coverage was a team effort that required coordination across disciplines and drew upon various skills, including visual investigation, mapping, audio, animation and 3D rendering. In particular, I would like to applaud the efforts of Ramon Padilla, who, before the NTSB had released their full timeline, was able to pinpoint the exact moments that events transpired by studying a live stream of the collapse and other sources, including police dispatch audio. Our team was also recognized for our work explaining how U.S. counties are blocking the future of renewable energy and visualizing death and destruction in Gaza."

Best Use of Data/Infographics (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (A Cohort of International Journalists) for “Dubai Unlocked”

OCCRP took first place in the Best Use of Data/Infographics category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “Dubai Unlocked.”

Best Use of Social Media/Crowd Sourcing (1 million or more unique visitors)

Block Club Chicago for “Cicada invasion on Block Club’s social media”

2^nd place: USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “Visualizing death and destruction in Gaza”

3^rd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “#JalanJalan with Lee Hsien Loong”

Block Club Chicago took first place in the Best Use of Social Media/Crowd Sourcing category (1 million or more unique visitors) for “Cicada invasion on Block Club’s social media.” Pictured here is the Block Club Chicago staff in August 2024. (Photo credit: Alex Garcia.)

Best Use of Social Media/Crowd Sourcing (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project for “The #freekyrgyz11 Campaign”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged (Chris Moody) for “Mark Driscoll’s Safe Space”

The Organized Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP) won first place in the Best Use of Social Media/Crowd Sourcing category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “The #freekygyz11 Campaign.”

Best Innovation Project on a Website (1 million or more unique visitors)

SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “A scroll through a century”

2^nd place: USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “The collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge”

3^rd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “Future 365”

SPH Media won top honors in two categories with this project: the Best Innovation Project on a Website category (1 million or more unique visitors) and the Best Overall Website Design category (1 million or more unique visitors). In response to the awards, they wrote, “Lianhe Zaobao’s (LHZB) ‘Scroll through a Century’ interactive website brings to life key historical events as well as its news publishing milestones, by masterfully integrating 107 articles, 648 images, 52 videos and audio clips, and 44 cartoons. This took a team of more than 40 and close to a year to develop. Winning [these awards] serves as a testament to LHZB’s relentless pursuit of creative excellence and media innovation.”

Best Innovation Project on a Website (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

RedBankGreen.com for “Partyline”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged (Paul Glader and Mary Cuddehe) for “High Plains Grifter”

RedBankGreen.com took first place in the Best Innovation Project on a Website category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “Partyline.” Editor Brian Donohue and Publisher Kenny Katzgrau of Red Bank Green, known for their rallying cry of "Long Live Local News" and mission to sustain their organization for 100 years, accepted an award earlier this year at the Local Independent Online News Conference in Chicago.

Kenny Katzgrau, publisher of RedBankGreen.com, said, “We’re thrilled to have received recognition from the storied Editor & Publisher, especially for projects that we will be open-sourcing and sharing with the wider industry. Innovation is our path ahead. Long Live Local News!”

Best Community Service Project/Reporting (1 million or more unique visitors)

NBC News Digital for “Lost rites”

2^nd place: USA TODAY Graphics and Data Visualization for “U.S. counties are blocking the future of renewable energy”

3^rd place: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “Lithium liabilities”

Best Community Service Project/Reporting (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project for “The #freekyrgyz11 Campaign”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged (Magdalena and Noel Rojo) for “Connecting with God and others: How chaplains support Denver’s unhoused”

3^rd place: Religion Unplugged (Paul Glad and Mary Cuddehe) for “High Plains Grifter”

Best News or Event Feature video (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

CNN Worldwide for “Five hours with one of the FBI’s ‘Ten Most Wanted’ fugitives. Here’s what he had to say”

2^nd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “Do Malaysians working in Singapore consider it home?”

3^rd place: CNN Worldwide for “This is not a test: How these students learned there was a shooter on campus, text by text”

Best News or Event Feature Video (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Truthdig (Michael Nigro) for “Fragments of Ukraine: 5 stories of the DIY supply chain”

2^nd place: SPH Media for “Think China’s Vox Pop Series”

Best Investigative/Enterprise Video (1 million or more unique visitors)

CNN Worldwide for “They told us that this material would be safe: Toxic PFAS discovered on U.S. farms”

2^nd place: ABC News, KAKE News WLS ABC7 Chicago and WFTV Channel 9 Eyewitness News for “ABC News Investigates: Trashed: The secret life of plastic exports”

3^rd place: ABC News/ABC Owned Television Stations for “ABC News Investigates: Point-in-Time Count”

Best Investigative/Enterprise Video (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

La Verdad, Lighthouse Reports and El Paso Matters for “Smoke and lies: Uncovering the truth about the Ciudad Juárez fire”

2^nd place: Blacklight, The New York Amsterdam News for “Be-loved”

La Verdad, Lighthouse Reports and El Paso Matters won top honors in the Best Investigative/Enterprise Video category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “Smoke and lies: Uncovering the truth about the Ciudad Juárez fire.” This shows an exterior still from the 3D reconstruction featuring the Mexican government building where the fire began.

A still from CCTV footage shows a finding from the investigation where the set of keys to the detention cell were handed off.

A still from CCTV footage shows a missing fire extinguisher inside the center at the time of the incident. Jack Sapoch of Lighthouse Reports said, “This investigation was only possible through collaboration and teamwork. Together, we aspired to achieve greater clarity to the underlying issues behind this preventable tragedy. We are appreciative of this award for its recognition of these efforts.”

Best Sports Video (1 million or more unique visitors)

ESPN for “The Walkout”

2^nd place: Bloomberg Originals for “How Allyson Felix turned a Nike snub into success”

Keith Sharon and The Tennessean took first place in the Best Podcast category (1 million or more unique visitors) for “Murder on Music Row.” Michael Anastasi, vice president of local news for Gannett and editor of The Tennessean, said, “Murder on Music Row was a complex story to tell — the culmination of the efforts by many journalists over more than five years — and I can’t say enough about Keith’s determination to not only see this project through but to do so with a passion that led to the highest caliber of storytelling and journalistic integrity.”

Best Podcast (1 million or more unique visitors)

The Tennessean for “Murder on Music Row”

2^nd place: Consumer Reports for “Talking Cars Podcast”

3^rd place: Block Club Chicago for “The Block Club Chicago Podcast”

Best Podcast (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Religion Unplugged for “The Religion Unplugged Podcast”

2^nd place: Doha Debates and Foreign Policy for “The Negotiators, season 4: ‘The Afghan Impasse’”

3^rd place: WSHU Public Radio for “Off the Plank”

Best Photojournalism on a Website (1 million or more unique visitors)

CNN Worldwide for “These haunting underwater photos portray climate change in a new way”

2^nd place: CNN Worldwide for “How the climate crisis fuels gender inequality”

Best Photojournalism on a Website (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Truthdig (Michael Nigr and Beatrice M. Spadacini) for “Something’s in the Water / The Moms vs. the Multinational”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged (Magdalena and Noel Rojo) for “Connection with God and others: How chaplains support Denver’s unhoused”

The Best Editorial/Political Cartoon category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) had two first place winners, one of which was Dennis Draughon, editorial cartoonist for Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. and WRAP.com.

Best Editorial/Political Cartoon (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Co-1^st place winners:

Dennis Draughon, editorial cartoonist for Capitol Broadcasting Co., Inc. and WRAL.com, and SPH Media for ThinkChina

SPH Media shared first place in the Best Editorial/Political Cartoon category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors) for “ThinkChina.” Explore the social commentary of young Chinese comic artist Bai Yi, whose work *The Other Side of the Coral Reef*, examines an individual's relationship with self, nation and the world. Through a vibrant collage of thought-provoking images and emotive poetry, Bai Yi's award-winning comic offers a powerful perspective. Originally created in Chinese, the comic has been translated into English by the ThinkChina team.

Best Incorporation of Sponsored/Branded Content (1 million or more unique visitors)

NBC News Custom Productions Unit for “Digital parenting: Raising the A.I. generation”

2^nd place: NBC News Custom Productions Unit for “TODAY honors deserving veteran with a new car”

NBC News Custom Productions Unit took top honors in the Best Incorporation of Sponsored/Branded Content category (1 million or more unique visitors) for “Digital parenting: Raising the A.I. generation.” NBC News’ Kate Snow and Savannah Sellers anchored the program.

“Digital Parenting: Raising the A.I. Generation” featured experts in the fields of law enforcement, child development and digital safety. Pictured here is Fareedah Shaheed, an internet safety expert, and Abbigail Beccaccio, unit chief of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, Child Exploitation Operational Unit.

The everyday experiences of what real parents and teens experience online were highlighted in the special with discussions about screens, social media and the role of artificial intelligence in the growingly interconnected and digital world. Anneke Foster, executive producer, Custom Productions Unit/NBCUniversal News Group, said, “‘Digital Parenting: Raising the A.I. Generation,’ an NBC News NOW Town Hall, sponsored by Aura, provided parents and teens essential safety information and tools to help families navigate an increasingly interconnected world. Hosted by Kate Snow and Savannah Sellers, the special highlighted the challenges of raising children in an unprecedented digital age and offered expert insight on how best to protect them. The special also represented what NBC News’ Custom Productions Unit does best — partnering with NBC News’ unrivaled editorial teams and facilitating sponsorships that are editorially relevant, timely and offer unique value to both our audience and relevant brand partners.”

Best Overall Website Design (1 million or more unique visitors)

SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “A Scroll through a century”

2^nd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “Future 365”

3^rd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaoba) for “#JalanJalan with Lee Hsian Loong”

Lianhe Zaobao’s (LHZB) interactive project “Future 365” clinched the first place in the Best Website Navigation Design category (1 million or more unique visitors) through its thoughtful utilization of floating menu, category tabs and more, which help users to effortlessly browse through bilingual multimedia content on Artificial Intelligence, Economy, Global Politics and Sustainability, regardless via desktop or mobile.

Best Overall Website Design (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Las Vegas Weekly for “The local’s guide for what to do in Las Vegas”

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged

3^rd place: RedBankGreen.com

Las Vegas Weekly won first place in the Best Overall Website Design category (fewer than 1 million unique visitors). Pictured here is the Las Vegas Weekly staff (l to r). Front Row: Corlene Byrd, Caryl Lou Paayas, Brooke Everson; Second Row: Brian Ramos, Gabriel Rodriguez, Amber Sampson, Shannon Miller, and Back: Ian Racoma. (Photo credit: Christopher DeVargas.)

Best Home Page Design (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Truthdig (Soo Kim and James Dwyer)

2^nd place: Religion Unplugged

3^rd place: Las Vegas Weekly for “The local’s guide for what to do in Las Vegas”

Best Redesign/Relaunch (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

RedBankGreen.com

Best Website Navigation Design (1 million or more unique visitors)

SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “Future 365”

2^nd place: SPH Media (Lianhe Zaobao) for “Causeway 100”

Best Website Navigation Design (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Religion Unplugged

Best Promotional/Marketing Campaign (1 million or more unique visitors)

ADWEEK for “Special Edition Cannes Lions 45^th Anniversary Marketing Campaign”

2^nd place: Lee Enterprises for “Where Your Story Lives 2.0”

ADWEEK took top honors for the Best Promotional/Marketing Campaign category (1 million or more unique visitors) for the “Special Edition Cannes Lions 45th Anniversary Marketing Campaign.” Pictured here is the cover of the anniversary edition, along with a photo of the ADWEEK team at ADWEEK House at Cannes.

Best Promotional/Marketing Campaign (fewer than 1 million unique visitors)

Truthdig (Sharon Romeo, Creative Director, Pablo Ortega, Marketing Manager, Myke Allen and Andrew Clippingdale, Animation) for “A Truthdig Carol”

COLLEGE/ UNIVERSITY CATEGORY WINNERS AND FINALISTS

Best College/University Website

NYCity News Service

2^nd place: The Temple News

The NYCity News Service, a student-powered news site at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, won the EPPY for Best College/University Website. Judges praised the “rich experience” offered by the “compelling” news site.

The NYCity News Service, at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, earned a first-place EPPY for Best Photojournalism on a College/University Website for “Photobridge,” a collaboration with Paris’ ENS Louis Lumiere. The judges hailed the project as “compelling, cross-cultural photojournalism with powerful insights into immigrant lives in New York and Paris.” (Photo credit: Zakiyyah Woods)

Jere Hester, director of editorial partnership, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, said, “We’re grateful for the recognition from the EPPYs. We’re also grateful for the opportunity to produce work that matters — the mark all journalists strive to reach.”

Best College/University-Produced Community or Niche Website

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “Lithium Liabilities”

2^nd place: Temple University Journalism Department for “Philadelphia Neighborhoods”

3^rd place: Mott Haven Herald Staff

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU took first place in four categories with “Lithium Liabilities”: Best College/University-Produced Website Community or Niche Website, Best Feature Story on a College/University Website, Best Photojournalism on a Website, and Best Video on a College/University Website.

Pictured here are “Lithium Liabilities” reporters on the site of a mining claim in the New Mexico playa. In the foreground are student reporters Tori Gantz and Annika Tourlas; behind them are John Leos, operating a drone, and Daisy Tanner, alongside a source for the story.

Student reporters Jordan Gerard, Caitlin Thompson and John Leos from ASU’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism pose for the camera in the field in Nevada for “Lithium Liabilities,” a first-of-its-kind examination into the rush for domestic sources of lithium in the U.S.

Water Scientist Nyle Pennington talked to Howard Center student reporters Jordan Gerard and John Leos at a dried-up water monitoring well in Nevada. The resulting reporting, “Lithium Liabilities,” showed how America’s only commercially active lithium mine in Silver Peak is drying up water supplies in the area and, as such, makes clear what’s at stake as the new lithium mining rush takes shape across America’s West.

Best Collaborative College/University and Professional Website

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU, AP, Frontline and Howard Center UMD for “Lethal restraint”

2^nd place: Fellows and Faculty of the Global Reporting Program, Produced in partnership With Mongabay for “Multimedia series on food security in Southeast Asia”

3^rd place: Gateway Journalism Review for “Journalism on the brink”

Student reporters in the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU’s Cronkite School work together on the “Lethal Restraint” investigation, which was reported and produced in partnership with The Associated Press, Frontline and the Howard Center at UMD.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication held an event on the launch of “Lethal Restraint,” bringing together reporters and editors from the Howard Center ASU with The Associated Press. On the Zoom screen going clockwise are project editor Maud Beelman and reporters Taylor Stevens, Nathan Collins and Tirzah Christopher; on stage from left to right are Howard Center Executive Editor Mark Greenblatt, AP Vice President Ron Nixon, AP video reporter Serginho Roosblad and Howard Center Executive Editor Lauren Mucciolo.

Reagan Creamer Ryan, a reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU, consults via Zoom with Reese Dunklin, reporter at The Associated Press, on the investigation “Lethal Restraint,” which produced a first-of-its-kind public database on police killings that didn’t involve a gun.

Best News Story on a College/University Website

Caplin News for “America’s checkbook”

2^nd place: Cronkite News/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “NAGPRA in Arizona Series”

3^rd place: NYCity News Service Staff for “Pepper Spray and surging crowds: Videos Show flashpoints at City College”

Best Feature Story on a College/University Website

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “Lithium Liabilities”

2^nd place: Cronkite News/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “NAGPRA in Arizona Series”

3^rd place: La DePaulia (Cary Robbins and Alyssa N. Salcedo) for “It was our moment of blessing: Migrant family finds a home with the help of a DePaul professor”

Best Video on a College/University Website

Philadelphia Neighborhoods, Temple University Journalism Department for “Hakim’s in West Philadelphia carries banned books to serve and educate the community”

2^nd place: Cronkite News/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “NAGPRA in Arizona Series”

3^rd place: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “Lithium Liabilities”

Best Photojournalism on a College/University Website

NYCity News Service and ENS Louis Lumiere for “Photobridge”

2^nd place: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “Lithium Liabilities”

3^rd place: The Daily Targum for “End of Rutgers Encampment”

Best College/University Investigative/Documentary

Cronkite News/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU for “NAGPRA series”

2^nd place: The Newhouse Spotlight Team for “The Green Black Market”

3^rd place: NYCity News Service Staff for “Day Care Danger”

Students at the Cronkite News/Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU won top honors in the Best College/University Investigative/Documentary category for the “NAGPRA series,” as well as three second-place awards.

A team of student reporters in ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication examined how Arizona’s public universities are complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and found that their own university had one of the worst track records in the nation. Nearly half the reporting team on the NAGPRA in Arizona series is Indigenous, including Christopher Lomahquahu (Gila River Indian Community and Hopi), Aspen Ford (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians) and Chad Bradley (Navajo Nation), pictured left to right.

Best College/University Sports Section/Website

The Temple News Sports for “The Temple News Sports Section — TTN Sports”