Wallace House Center for Journalists and the University of Michigan today announced the 2026 Livingston Awards finalists in local, national, and international reporting. The awards support young journalists and honor the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under 35 across all forms of journalism. The finalist selections were chosen for work published in 2025.
This year’s winners will be announced on June 9, 2026, at an awards ceremony in New York City hosted by María Elena Salinas, former co-anchor of Univision’s flagship daily newscast, “Noticiero Univision.”
“The work of this year’s Livingston Awards finalists serves as a reminder of the most consequential issues of the past year, and the ambitious work of journalists to tackle those issues with urgency, depth and nuance,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of the awards and the Wallace House Center for Journalists. “We applaud the tenacity of these committed reporters and are proud to extend the reach of their work.”
Now in its 45th year, the awards continue to bolster the work of young reporters, encourage the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and foster civic engagement around powerful storytelling.
The Livingston Awards regional judges read all qualifying entries to select the finalists in local, national and international reporting. The regional judging panel includes Molly Ball, political reporter, analyst, commentator and author; Meghna Chakrabarti, host and editor, “On Point,” WBUR; Stella Chávez, independent journalist, formerly KERA and The Texas Newsroom; Jodi Cohen, reporter and senior editor, ProPublica; Adam Ganucheau, executive editor and chief content officer, Deep South Today; David Greene, co-founder, Fearless Media; and Amna Nawaz, co-anchor, PBS “NewsHour.”
A panel of national judges reviews all finalist entries and selects the winners. The national judges are Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, “FRONTLINE”; Sally Buzbee, news editor for the United States and Canada, Reuters; Sewell Chan, senior fellow, USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy; Stephen Henderson, host, Detroit Public Television; Matt Murray, executive editor, The Washington Post; Evan Osnos, staff writer, The New Yorker; Lydia Polgreen, opinion columnist, The New York Times; Bret Stephens, opinion columnist, The New York Times; and Kara Swisher, podcast host, Vox Media.
The Livingston Awards are made possible with support from generous sponsors, including Knight Foundation, the Indian Trail Charitable Foundation, the Mollie Parnis Livingston Foundation and the Hochman and Allard Families, The New York Times, The Joyce Foundation, Collective Media and The Briefing Room, Christiane Amanpour, Laura McTaggart and Tom Nolan, Dr. Gil Omenn and Martha Darling, and the Judy and Fred Wilpon Foundation.
We present the 2026 Livingston Awards finalists
You can find their submitted work here.
Local Reporting
- Curtis Brodner, Oishika Neogi and Willow Higgins, New York Focus and Columbia Journalism Investigations
- Rebecca Cadenhead, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism
- Lauren Caruba and Marin Wolf, The Dallas Morning News
- Jana Cholakovska, NJ Advance Media
- Shirsho Dasgupta, Miami Herald
- Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times
- Chris Gelardi, New York Focus
- Dana Gerber, The Boston Globe
- Katie Hyson, KPBS Public Media
- David Leffler, Savanna Strott and Salina Arredondo, Public Health Watch
- Wyatt Massey and Charlotte Keith, Spotlight PA
- Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times
- Hallie Miller, Giacomo Bologna, Sahana Jayaraman and Krishna Sharma, The Baltimore Banner
- Lauren Peace, Tampa Bay Times
- Laura Rodriguez Presa, Chicago Tribune
- Dylan Segelbaum, The Baltimore Banner
- Allen Siegler, Mississippi Today
- William Skipworth, The New Hampshire Bulletin
- Jessie Smith, The Oklahoman
- Sammy Sussman, The New York Times and New York Focus
- Alexa York, Toledo Blade
National Reporting
- Akbar Shahid Ahmed, HuffPost
- Ethan Bauer, Deseret Magazine
- Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, The New York Times
- Natasha Bertrand, CNN
- Nicole Foy, ProPublica
- Carlos Garcia, NPR
- Joshua Kaplan, ProPublica
- Benjamin Katz, The Wall Street Journal
- Ava Kofman, The New Yorker
- Nat Lash, ProPublica
- Mel Leonor Barclay and Shefali Luthra, The 19th
- Morgan Lieberman, Long Lead
- Jason Mast, STAT
- Matt Nadel, The New Yorker
- Hannah Natanson, The Washington Post
- Aneri Pattani, KFF Health News
- Katie Thornton, WNYC’s “On the Media,” with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism
- Lauren Weber and Caitlin Gilbert, The Washington Post
- David Yaffe-Bellany, The New York Times
International Reporting
- Hanna Arhirova, Illia Novikov and Vasilisa Stepanenko, The Associated Press
- Anas Baba, NPR
- Gregory Barber, MIT Technology Review
- Rachel Chason, The Washington Post
- Anna Conkling, Business Insider
- Gerardo del Valle, Alejandro Bonilla Suárez and Edwin Corona Ramos, ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, Alianza Rebelde Investiga, and Cazadores de Fake News
- Nadia Hamdan, Reveal
- Mohammed Mhawish, New York Magazine in partnership with the Palestine Reporting Lab
- Eren Orbey, The New Yorker
- Casey Quackenbush, POLITICO Europe
- Marcelo Rochabrun, Bloomberg News
- Ari Schneider, Mountain Gazette
- Liam Scott, The Nation
- Rebecca Tan, The Washington Post
More on the finalists’ work and links to watch, listen and read here.