The 2024 IRE Award Winners Spill Their Secrets
The incredible work done by the winners of of the 2024 IRE Awards has changed and saved lives. These spectacular journalists have crossed borders, built databases, dug through thousands of pages of confidential records, and risked their own safety to reveal wrongdoing from incredibly powerful people.
And in a time when those powerful people increasingly seek to silence work just like this, every journalist needs the skills to speak truth to power, to uncover wrongdoing and to shine a light on the injustices that feel so commonplace these days. To that end, winners of the 2024 IRE awards have graciously peeled back the curtain to show you how they did the incredible work that earned them well-deserved recognition — with the hope that you can take these lessons into your own work.
Below, you’ll find links to corresponding articles in The IRE Journal, each with the tips, tricks and unexpected lessons these journalists learned while putting together these landmark investigations.
Tom Renner Award
“Tráileres, Trampa para Migrantes” (Cargo Trucks: A Trap for Migrants) — Noticias Telemundo, Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Bellingcat, Pie de Página, Chiapas Paralelo, En un 2×3 Tamaulipas, Plaza Pública and Contracorriente
FOI Award
“Visa Games” — Bloomberg News by Eric Fan, Zachary Mider, Denise Lu, Marie Patino, Nic Querolo, Coulter Jones and Kyle Kim
Print/Online – Division I
“The Great Medicare Scandal” — The Wall Street Journal by Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty, Anna Wilde Mathews, Mark Maremont and Andrew Mollica
Print/Online – Division II
“Right to Remain Secret” — San Francisco Chronicle and UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program by Katey Rusch and Casey Smith
“Fast and Fatal” — San Francisco Chronicle by Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson
Print/Online – Division III
“Denied: Alabama’s Broken Parole System” — AL.com by Ivana Hrynkiw
Print/Online – Division IV
“The Tenant Trap” — Injustice Watch by Alejandra Cancino, Maya Dukmasova, Alex Richards and Forest Gregg
Video – Division I
“Smoke and Lies” — Lighthouse Reports, La Verdad and El Paso Matters by Jack Sapoch, Monica C. Camacho, Klaas van Dijken, Melissa del Bosque, Rocío Gallegos, Gabriela Minjares, Blanca Carmona, Cindy Ramirez, Pablo de la Rosa, Levi van Urk, Alicia Fernández, Daniel Howden and Ariadne Papagapitos
Video – Division II
“In Plane Sight: The Fix” – Atlanta News First & InvestigateTV by Brendan Keefe, Lindsey Basye, Bailey Williams, Tim Darnell and Jamie Grey
“Drained” — KPRC 2 News by Amy Davis, Andrea Slaydon, Adrian Montes, Jon Hill, Jason Nguyen and Ana Lastra
Video – Division III
“Predator: System Failure” — WSMV-TV by Jeremy Finley, Jason Finley, Jeff Bishop, Erin Newnam and Meredith Whittemore
Audio – Large
“40 Acres and a Lie” — Center for Public Integrity, Reveal, Mother Jones and PRX by Alexia Fernández Campbell, Pratheek Rebala, April Simpson, Jennifer LaFleur, Nadia Hamdan, Cynthia Rodriguez, Roy Hurst, Mc Nelly Torres, Peter Newbatt Smith and Jamilah King
Audio – Small
“Concussions, Bruises, Bite Marks: San Antonio special education teachers say they often get hurt at work” — Texas Public Radio by Camille Phillips
Student – Large
“Planes, Trains and Luxury Stays: Despite reforms, lobbyists still involved in House travel” — Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland and Boston University
Investigations Triggered by Breaking News
“The Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse” — The Baltimore Banner by staff of The Baltimore Banner
Sports Investigations
“The Concussion Files” — The Washington Post by Will Hobson
“Bad Bets: The Shohei Ohtani & Ippei Mizuhara Investigation” — ESPN by Tisha Thompson, Elaine Teng, T.J. Quinn, Paula Lavigne, Mike Drago and Chris Buckle
Book
“Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy” by Craig Whitlock (published by Simon & Schuster)
Longform Journalism in Video
“Maine Shooting: Missed Warnings” — Scripps News by Lori Jane Gliha, Brittany Freeman, Alex Brauer, Colin McIntyre and Max McClellan
Longform Journalism in Audio:
“On Our Watch: New Folsom” — KQED Public Radio by Sukey Lewis, Julie Small, Victoria Mauleón, Steven Rascón and Chris Egusa with KQED staff, UC Berkeley Journalism faculty and students.