Nominations now open for the 2025 Goldsmith Awards

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2025 Goldsmith Awards, including the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Book Prize, and the brand new Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting.

The Goldsmith Awards Program, launched in 1991, has as its goal the encouragement of a more insightful and spirited public debate about government, politics and the press. The program includes the awarding of the following prizes:

The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

This $25,000 investigative-reporting prize has recognized pioneering work by teams of journalists from across the country. It honors investigative reporting that best promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics.

The Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting

This new $15,000 prize honors reporting that focuses on the functioning of government and the implementation of public policy. Exemplary pieces use an explanatory and solutions-focused lens to illuminate a government or public policy implementation process, program, or problem.

The Goldsmith Book Prize

The Goldsmith Book Prize is awarded to the trade and academic books that best fulfill the objective of improving democratic governance through an examination of the intersection between the media, politics and public policy.

Each year the awards ceremony also honors a prominent journalist with the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism. This prize is not open to public nomination.

New this year – Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting

Inaugurated in 2024 as the Goldsmith Special Citation for Reporting on Government, this year we will offer a formal Goldsmith Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the first time. This new prize is intended to honor journalism that digs deep to explain how government works. Learn more about the new prize in this informational webinar and nominate reporting that fits the criteria.