The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and the Nyhan Prize Selection Committee has named Steve Lopez, columnist at the Los Angeles Times, as the winner of the 2021 Nyhan Prize in Political Journalism.
The Nyhan Prize honors a political journalist who covers politics and social policy in the public interest, and embodies longtime Boston Globe columnist and former Joan Shorenstein Fellow David Nyhan’s style of journalism that speaks to, and for, everyone.
Steve Lopez is a California native who has been an L.A. Times columnist since 2001. He has won more than a dozen national journalism awards for his reporting and column writing at seven newspapers and four news magazines, and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist for commentary – in 2012, for his columns on elder care; in 2016, for his columns on income inequality in California; in 2018, for his columns on housing and homelessness; and in 2020, for purposeful pieces about rising homelessness in Los Angeles, which amplified calls for government action to deal with a long-visible public crisis. He is the author of three novels, two collections of columns and a non-fiction work called “The Soloist,” which was a Los Angeles Times and New York Times best-seller, winner of the PEN USA Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and the subject of a Dream Works movie by the same name. Lopez’s television reporting for public station KCET has won three local news Emmys, three Golden Mike awards and a share of the Columbia University DuPont Award. Read his work at https://www.latimes.com/people/steve-lopez.
Sponsored by the Shorenstein Center, the Nyhan Prize is made possible by the generosity of the Nyhan family and many friends. The winner is chosen from amongst nominations solicited from the public, and is awarded a cash prize. The selection committee for the 2021 prize were Derrick Z. Jackson, Nancy Kaffer, Olivia Nyhan, Thomas Patterson, and Tracie Powell.
An event honoring Steve Lopez will be held on Monday, April 18th at 12:00 ET. It will be a virtual event, and all are welcome to attend. David Von Drehle, Washington Post columnist and 2018 Nyhan Prize winner, will moderate a conversation with the winner about his career and the importance of political journalism that centers on the interests of everyday people.
Register here to attend the Nyhan Prize Ceremony and Conversation with Steve Lopez, moderated by David Von Drehle.
