CNN and PBS each win two DuPont-Columbia awards for coverage of war in Ukraine and US withdrawal from Afghanistan

CNN and PBS each took home two awards, leading today’s duPont-Columbia Awards presented by the Columbia Journalism School.

Established in 1942, the awards aim to uphold journalism standards, educate the public about the achievements of video and audio journalists, and support journalism education and innovation.

CBS Evening News host Norah O’Donnell and PBS NewsHour co-host Amna Nawaz hosted the awards show, which returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years. A video stream of the 90-minute event is available HERE.)

“Today’s honorees are being recognized for the quality of their work,” O’Donnell said at the start of the show. “This truly phenomenal journalism. But we also want to acknowledge the courage it took to tell these difficult stories and the tenacity to see them through.”

Nawaz spoke to her father, who graduated from the Columbia Journalism School. “He thought
me to always ask difficult questions, listen carefully and choose my words carefully,” she said. “That’s what makes good journalism, and that’s why we need more good journalism at this point in history.”

This year’s judges are Madhulika Sikka (President); Lynn Adrian; Nina Alvarez; June cross; Mark Jurkowitz; Mark Lukasiewicz; David Rumble; Robert Smith and Mark Whitaker.

Here is the full list of winners with the judges’ descriptions:

CBS News
60 minutes: National Security in the Information Age
Across four interrelated stories, this compelling series documents the clear and real threat of ongoing cyberattacks, primarily by Russia, on the
infrastructure and national security.

PBS | GBH | NOVA
“Arctic Sinkholes”
This episode of NOVA investigating a recently discovered geological phenomenon
Dramatic effects on climate change: New sinkholes appear in the Arctic
Release of previously unknown amounts of methane into the atmosphere.

This American Life
“Speak when you’re black”
Two years after the 2020 racial protests, this audio report followed the story of black Americans unexpectedly caught up in the backlash against #BlackLivesMatter, including a Michigan teenager who was shockingly sold by his white classmates at a virtual slave auction.

PBS NewsHour & Jane Ferguson (bundled with Ukraine coverage)
The Fall of Afghanistan
Jane Ferguson’s deep and daring reporting followed the fate of Afghanistan
the months before the withdrawal of US troops and its immediate aftermath
The Taliban regained control.
AND
war in Ukraine
With sensitivity and context, a team of brave reporters and producers fanned out
in Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and Russia itself report the enormous impact
Russian invasion of Ukraine.

audible
Look for Tamika
Tamika Huston went missing in 2004 and parts of her skeleton were found years later. Her life and senseless death are explored in this innovative podcast series that questions why so many black women like her go missing every year.

KARE 11 Minneapolis/St. Paul & AJ Lagoe/Brandon Stahl
The gap: treatment failure, protection failure
In this hour-long special, AJ Legoe followed in the footsteps of violent criminals with serious mental illnesses who find themselves back on the streets after being found unfit to stand trial.

HBO Documentary
the janes
This film, about a group of women who banded together, exposed their illegal services and operated safe, affordable, underground abortion operations in Chicago in the late 1960s, is all too relevant in today’s post-Roe United States.

WXIA TV Atlanta and Rebecca Lindstrom

#Save to computer

A child with special needs was mysteriously left in the emergency room in the middle of the night. That one incident led to a deeply revealing series fueled by a reporter’s determination to expose a troubling flaw in Georgia’s social safety net.

ABC News Studios | Hello
Leave No Trace: A Hidden Story of the Scouts

This documentary’s damning indictment of the Scouts exposes the willful paternalism of pedophile Scout leaders within their ranks and the harm done to thousands of boys.

WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge and Chris Nakamoto

MURDER – LIES – HIDDEN EVIDENCE: Hold the Louisiana State Police accountable
Acting on a lead, the WBRZ investigative team obtained internal emails and leaked video about the death of an unarmed black man in police custody, exposing a pattern of deception at the highest levels of the Louisiana State Police .

CNN Movies | HBO max
Navalny
With an extraordinary look at the complicated life and attempted murder of
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, this compelling documentary was like his own
Team worked to identify and expose the members of the secret Russian intelligence team
who shadowed and poisoned him.

WTVF-TV Nashville and Phil Williams
News Channel 5 Investigation: Revealed

This in-depth investigation into the inner workings of the Tennessee Legislature uncovered the money and relationships between politicians and lobbyists that actually drive the legislative agenda.

KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas/Ft. Worth & Scott Friedman
Paper Tag Nation

Tackling an obscure subject – paper license plates – this remarkable series of investigative reports uncovered an entire underworld of criminal activity and proved that public interest journalism can be as dramatic as an action film.

The Washington Post: News report
A Post-Roe America: Continuing Abortion Reporting

Caroline Kitchener’s detailed reporting in the run-up to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade provided context and valuable insight into the ambivalence many Americans feel.

Gimlet Media | Spotify
Stolen: Survive St. Michael
This intimate yet comprehensive podcast series began as a reporter’s journey into decoding
her own family secret and ended up with a revealing conviction for child abuse in Canada
Residence system and its painful legacy of multi-generational damage.

CNN worldwide
Ukraine
From the moment the first shots were fired in Ukraine, CNN’s coverage was comprehensive and in-depth, from live reporting on the front lines to following millions of refugees fleeing across Europe to witnessing months of tragedy in the daily lives of Ukrainians’ shots. Invasion.