Outstanding Explanatory Reporting, Small: SEJ 23rd Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment

First Place

"Pigs and Power" by Sky Chadde and Yanqi Xu for Flatwater Free Press

Screenshot of first-place story, Explanatory Reporting, Small

 

Team roles:

Yanqi Xu, senior investigative reporter, Flatwater Free Press: Co-writer of series
Sky Chadde, senior reporter, Investigate Midwest: Co-writer of series

Story links:

1. "Pillen’s Rise: After Building Pork Empire, Nebraska’s Governor Stands at Intersection of State and Ag Power" (Aug. 31, 2023)
2. "Pillen’s Water: High Nitrate Detected on Hog Farms Owned by Nebraska’s Governor" (Sept. 7, 2023)
3. "Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s Office, Industry Groups Crafted Bill Easing Ag Permitting Process, Emails Show" (April 4, 2024)

Judges' comments: "A masterful job of meticulous investigative reporting explaining for a lay audience the intersection of politics, power, privilege and regulatory capture. Yanqi Xu and Sky Chadde painstakingly sifted through thousands of records to uncover the hidden environmental impact of an industrial-scale hog farm empire owned by a state governor and its role in contamination of groundwater with a substance linked to childhood cancer. The reporters endured attacks for their work; some of it centred upon Xu's nationality. Such tenacious effort in the face of such adversity provides an admirable model of what environmental reporting should strive to achieve."

 

Second Place

"BPA's Evil Cousin" by Meg Wilcox for Environmental Health News

Story links:

1. "Ramped-Up US Construction Exposes Workers to an Unregulated Toxic" (Aug. 3, 2023)
2. "BADGE at the 'Very Top As a Chemical of Concern' for Workers Handling Epoxy Resins" (Aug. 3, 2023)
3. "How BPA and Its Evil Cousins Dodge Meaningful Regulation" (Jan. 8, 2024)
4. "Regulating Chemicals by Class: A Task of Surgical Precision" (Jan. 9, 2024)
5. "LISTEN: What I Learned Investigating BADGE — BPA's Evil Cousin" (Jan. 9, 2024)

Judges' comments: "A classic accountability story that sheds light about BADGE, a chemical that's ubiquitous around us — used in art projects to construction work sites — with potential endocrine-disrupting capabilities. EHN's investigation is ambitious and vast in scope as they trace the lack of regulation to rein in this chemical in the US and Europe. Easy to read, illuminating and in-depth look into a chemical that's less known, unregulated and has the potential to harm all of us."

 

Third Place

"Shreds of Evidence: The Revolution of Environmental DNA" by Peter Andrey Smith, Nora Belblidia, Brooke Borel, Rene Ebersole, Emma Foehringer Merchant and Lourdes Medrano for Undark

Team roles:

• Stories by Rene Ebersole, Lourdes Medrano, Emma Foehringer Merchant, and Peter Andrey Smith
• Conceived & Edited by Brooke Borel and Nora Belblidia

Story links:

1. "Shreds of Evidence: The Revolution of Environmental DNA" (landing page)
2. "Environmental DNA Is Everywhere. Scientists Are Gathering It All." (Feb. 12, 2024)
3. "The Uncharted World of Emerging Pathogens" (Feb. 14, 2024)
4. "New Genetic Tools Have Dramatically Changed Wildlife Conservation" (March 18, 2024)
5. "On the Horizon: A Booming eDNA Marketplace" (March 27, 2024)

Judges' comments: "Most of us are familiar with DNA used in criminology or to trace the origins of one's ancestors, but a team at Undark reported about something lesser known — environmental DNA, or eDNA. The multi-part series explains the science, explores the possible uses, implications and offers cautions and caveats to the use of eDNA. The process of identifying trace remnants of DNA can help identify spread of disease, locate missing persons and more. In addition to being well reported, each story tells an engaging narrative that pulls the reader through what could have otherwise been a dry science explainer: 'Unlike DNA, which is collected directly from an individual — whether from a cheek swab, a strand of hair, fingernail clipping, tooth or bone — eDNA is the genetic material continually sloughing off humans and every other living creature. It's a junkyard of degrading cells that is omnipresent in air, water and soil.' This series was fascinating, unique and well told."

 

First Honorable Mention

"Facing the Risks of Extreme Climate Shocks" by Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News

Story links:

1. "Global Warming Could Drive Pulses of Ice Sheet Retreat Reaching 2,000 Feet Per Day" (April 5, 2023)
2. "How Wildfire Smoke From Australia Affected Climate Events Around the World" (May 10, 2023)
3. "James Hansen Warns of a Short-Term Climate Shock Bringing 2 Degrees of Warming by 2050" (May 26, 2023)
4. "June Extremes Suggest Parts of the Climate System Are Reaching Tipping Points" (July 4, 2023)
5. "Scientists Disagree About Drivers of September’s Global Temperature Spike, But It Has Most of Them Worried" (Oct. 11, 2023)

Judges' comments: "Inside Climate News does a remarkable job of connecting the dots on the devastating effects of climate change that we are all experiencing now. It's a topic we all know about, but this ambitious, global series breaks down this massive issue into surprising connections between events in different parts of the world that create a butterfly effect that connects and affects all of us. Expansive and in-depth reporting spanning wildfires in Australia to Greenland's ice sheet, the series stands out for its clear and accessible writing."

 

Second Honorable Mention

"SOS: Climate Change Threatens Our Traditional Foods" by Johanna Osorio, Sonia Tejada María Clara Valencia and Ruth Vargas for InquireFirst / Historias Sin Fronteras initiative (Nov. 12, 2023)

Team roles:

• Johanna Osorio, Freelance Journalist: Reported and wrote the Venezuela story
• María Clara Valencia, Editor, Amazonia project, Internews: Reported and wrote the Colombia story
• Ruth Vargas, Project Director, Fundacion Integral de Desarrollo (Comprehensive Development Foundation): Reported and co-wrote the Bolivia-Panama story
• Sonia Tejada, Media Coordinator, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: Reported and co-wrote the Bolivia-Panama story

Judges' comments: "From the burning Amazon basin to the melting Arctic, this story from five countries is a sharp reminder of the unfair burden climate change imposes upon developing economies and Indigenous cultures where threatened traditional foods are staples. It is also a stark reminder for those in developed agricultural economies that climate change is an unwelcome guest at their own dinner tables who poses threats to global food security. Thought provoking, eloquent, powerful and sweeping in scope."

 

Third Honorable Mention

"Michigan's Industrial Legacy" by Paula Gardner and Kelly House for Bridge Michigan

Story links:

1. "As Automakers Win Incentives for EV Plants, Michigan Pays for Polluted Past" (Sept. 25, 2023)
2. "'They Destroyed Our Little Town.' What Michigan’s Auto Industry Left Behind" (Sept. 25, 2023)
3. "Small Supplier, Big Mess: Jackson Pays the Price of Auto Industry Pollution" (Sept. 25, 2023)
4. "Did Auto Industry Pollute Your Michigan Town? Find Out With Interactive Map" (Oct. 20, 2023)
5. "Michigan Democrats Unveil Push for Tougher Polluter Pay Laws" (Oct. 25, 2023)

Judges' comments: "This Bridge Michigan series is a great example of connecting past pollution with the future: 'As Michigan underwrites the auto industry's electric vehicle future, it is also picking up the tab for the industry's polluted past.' The team, Kelly House and Paula Gardner, pulled together records of long-abandoned sites from past auto manufacturing and new proposed sites for EV plants and they tallied the cost to taxpayers through an interactive map. The report notes how incentives for new EV plants 'come with few environmental requirements attached.' The stories also have had impact, prompting legislation to reform economic development and environmental cleanup laws."

 

 

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The Society of Environmental Journalists' annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment honor the best environmental journalism in 10 categories, bringing recognition to the stories that are among the most important on the planet. Prizes are $500 for first-place winners and $250 for second-place winners in all categories. Plus, the Nina Mason Pulliam Award for the "best of the best" environmental reporting will award $10,000 to one entry selected from the first-place winners of SEJ's Awards for Reporting on the Environment. Sponsored by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, this prestigious award will be announced live on January 28 — please save the date and stay tuned for details.

 

SEJ's 2024 Esteemed Judges and Screeners
SEJ's 2024 Awards Committee

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