Collier Prize for State Government Accountability

Congratulations to , our first-place winner of the UF Collier Prize for State Government Accountability! Their piece “Housing Hustle,” by reporter Lagoe and producer , exposed a massive fraud scheme within Minneapolis’ Medicaid-funded Housing Stabilization Services.

Take a deeper dive into their investigation, and learn more about our second and third-place winners at: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/collier-prize-for-state-government-accountability/collier-prize-winners/collier-prize-winners-2026/

Breaking News: You still have time! We’ve heard from several news organizations seeking a bit more time to submit entries for the 2026 Collier Prize and we have extended the entry deadline to Friday, Feb. 6.

Journalists, submit your investigative work for a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize, announced annually at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Here’s everything you need to know about submitting before the new deadline: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/collier-prize-for-state-government-accountability/collier-prize-rules/

If you produced a standout investigative piece last year, the hard part is already done. Don’t let your work go unrecognized. The final day to submit your piece for the 2026 Collier Prize is Saturday, January 31, at midnight.

Get your entries in now and encourage your colleagues to do the same at: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/collier-prize-for-state-government-accountability/collier-prize-rules/

Enter your best work for the Collier Prize. It's a $25,000 first place award. Rules and entry here: https://lnkd.in/eaZGMutv

Are you at National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Cleveland? Come visit us in the exhibit hall in booth 318. Learn about our competition, our symposium, the state of journalism....and there could be a rubber gator in it for you!

2025 Collier Prize winner Margie Mason of the Associated Press is welcomed by Kristen Welker of NBC News at the White House Correspondents Association dinner.

We are proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Collier Prize for State Government Accountability as well as a report that reflects a profession under pressure with systemic barriers to information and our institutions.

The $25,000 first prize will be presented Saturday night at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. It goes to Margie Mason and Robin McDowell of the Associated Press for "Prison to Plate," a project that exposed how deeply the U.S. supply chain relies on prison labor.

Their reporting showed the deplorable conditions many prisoners face, and resulted in major businesses, including Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, and Home Depot, to change their practices or launch internal investigations.

Second prize ($5,000) goes to NBC News and Noticias Telemundo for “Dealing the Dead,” a year-long NBC News investigation into the body brokering industry.

Third prize ($2,500) is awarded to the Illinois Answers Project for Strapped Down: “Restraint Chairs in Illinois’ Jails,” which exposed the overuse, misuse and abuse of restraint chairs in county jails across Illinois.

Each investigation held state institutions accountable and drove meaningful change. The news organizations accomplished this despite growing obstacles to public records and access to government officials in a challenging news and business environment, a Collier Prize survey of journalists showed.

You can view the complete survey report here:
https://www.jou.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-UF-Collier-Prize-State-of-Accountability-Journalism-1.pdf.

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Our new monthly news letter is out. Read about new trends in state government accountability reporting, some great reporting during March and more. Oh, and please subscribe!

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