Now in its 22nd year, the contest recognizes the best of health care journalism across all platforms. The 2025 contest drew 396 entries in 16 categories.
“This year we made important changes to our awards categories to showcase high-impact visual storytelling and reflect the range of audio formats by adding two new Television and Video Reporting categories, revamping the Audio categories” said Renuka Rayasam, AHCJ board member and contest committee co-chair. “We received powerful entries in these new broadcast categories and are so delighted that we can honor more of our broadcast colleagues’ work.”
And the award goes to…
First place in Audio Reporting — Short Form (All Sizes) goes to April Dembosky and Kevin Stark from KQED Public Radio for their story about bird flu fears that led to a ban on live chickens at the fair, replacing hands-on 4-H activities with substitutes to prevent disease spread.
First place in Audio Reporting — Long Form (All Sizes) goes to the staff of NPR’s Embedded and Futuro Media. “The Network” shows how grassroots abortion support systems, pioneered in Brazil, spread internationally after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
First place in Beat Reporting (All Sizes) went to New York Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, whose 2025 reporting examined turmoil at the CDC under RFK Jr., highlighting funding cuts, staffing changes, data suppression, and anti-vaccine policy shifts amid rising tensions with the press.
First place in Business (All Sizes) goes to Ginger Thompson and Doris Burke from ProPublica. Their investigation found that Phoebe Putney Memorial became a dominant force in Albany, Georgia, with its growth tied to rising costs, worsening health disparities, and entrenched inequality despite its economic and political influence.
First place in Consumer/Feature (Small Division) goes to Orion Rummler from The 19th News. A three-part series follows two young women who detransitioned, highlighting their care challenges and feelings of being dismissed by providers, while also examining how their stories have been politicized in debates over transgender health care.
First place in Consumer/Feature (Large Division) goes to Shalini Ramachandran, Betsy McKay, and Tom McGinty from The Wall Street Journal. Their investigation found widespread overuse of benzodiazepines within a “pill-first” mental health system, linking it to weak oversight and patient harm, especially during withdrawal.
First place in Health Policy (Small Division) goes to staff at The Connecticut Mirror for their investigation that found widespread problems in the long-term care insurance industry, including steep rate hikes, unstable coverage, and limited oversight affecting seniors. The reporting prompted multiple legislative proposals for stronger consumer protections and financial relief.
First place in Health Policy (Large Division)goes to Ted Sherman, Susan K. Livio, and Matthew Miller from Advance Local. Their reporting, based on an analysis of federal data, finds that food quality in nursing homes across the country has become a hidden casualty, affecting elderly and vulnerable residents.
First place in Investigative (Small Division)goes to Michael Sallah, Mike Wereschagin, and Jimmy Cloutier from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Their investigation found that federal regulators failed to enforce safety protections against dangerous silica dust in coal mining, contributing to rising cases of severe illness among miners, including a sharp increase in affected younger workers.
First place in Investigative (Large Division) goes to staff at The New York Times for an investigation that exposed systemic problems in the U.S. organ transplant system, including weak oversight and unethical practices, leading to reforms and federal scrutiny.
First place in Public Health (Small Division) goes to Sophia Paffenroth and Erica Hensley for Mississippi Today and The Fuller Project. Their reporting found that Mississippi continues to have some of the nation’s highest rates of low-risk C-sections, with some hospitals performing the procedure on nearly half of eligible women despite national efforts to reduce unnecessary surgeries.
First place in Public Health (Large Division) goes to ProPublica’s Nat Lash, whose investigation found that bird flu may have spread through the air and that federal agencies failed to examine this possibility, leaving farmers unprepared and exposing broader gaps in pandemic preparedness.
First place in Television and Video Reporting — Short Form (All Sizes) goes to Erin Moriarty, Sari Aviv and Shoshana Walter with CBS Sunday Morning and The Marshall Project. Their investigation exposed how unreliable hospital drug tests have led to new mothers being wrongly investigated and sometimes separated from their babies. The first nationwide examination of the issue, conducted with The Marshall Project, also helped prompt federal action.
First place in Television and Video Reporting — Long Form (All sizes) goes to Andy Pierrotti, Luke Carter and staff of WANF-TV. The reporting shows cases reached a 30-year high in 2025 due to declining childhood vaccination rates and links the trend to vaccine misinformation and growing skepticism, drawing parallels to Samoa’s 2019 outbreak that killed 83 people.
First place in Trade (All Sizes) goes to Claire Porter from The Cancer Letter. Porter’s reporting highlights how researchers are increasingly examining medical debt as a consequence of cancer and its treatment, particularly amid cuts to Medicaid and the National Cancer Institute. Nearly half of U.S. cancer patients and survivors face overwhelming medical debt, a burden now widely referred to in oncology as “financial toxicity.”
Entries to the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism were judged by more than 100 volunteers who are current or retired journalists, or journalism professors.
“We owe a tremendous thanks to the more than 100 judges who devoted their time to reading, listening, watching these entries and making some really hard decisions! We appreciate all you do to make this contest possible,” said Renuka Rayasam.
All prizes will be presented during the Health Journalism 2026 awards luncheon on May 30 in Minneapolis. First-place winners will receive $500 and complimentary lodging for two nights and registration for one person at HJ26.
Oversight and support for the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism comes from the AHCJ Contest Committee, co-chaired by AHCJ board members Renuka Rayasam and Jonathan Rockoff. The committee also includes board members Christine Herman, Joyce Frieden, Randy Dotinga, Carrie Feibel, Usha McFarling and Jason Kane and member volunteers Joe Burns, Pauline Arrillaga, Sarah Kwon, Lauren Bavis, Mat Edelson, and Sabriya Rice. AHCJ members interested in serving on the committee can contact us at contest@healthjournalism.org.
Special thanks to awards manager and AHCJ staff member Tina Price for the organizational excellence and administrative care she brings to the year-round management of contest operations.
