The Meyer “Mike” Berger Award | School of Journalism

#BergerAward

The Berger Award, named after the late New York Times reporter Meyer “Mike” Berger, is awarded to a reporter(s) for an outstanding example of in-depth, human interest reporting.

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2019 Berger Award Winner

Terrence McCoy (J’12 MA Politics graduate), a staff writer for The Washington Post, has won the 2019 Berger Award for his series on Americans who were challenged in deeply personal ways by some of the most significant political and social issues of the day.

Read the full announcement with the judges’ citation.

About

Members of the faculty of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism judge the entries. The award, which consists of a certificate from Columbia and a $1,500 prize, is conferred annually at the School’s Journalism Day ceremony in May.

Berger won a 1950 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for his story on a veteran who went on a shooting spree in Camden, New Jersey, killing several residents. He then reintroduced the newspaper’s “About New York” column in the early 1950s, setting the standard for evocative and eloquent human interest reporting. Berger passed away in 1959. Louis Schweitzer, a New York industrialist who admired Berger’s work, created the Berger Award in 1960.

How to Nominate

The 2020 Berger Award will open for nominations in January.

The Meyer "Mike" Berger Award and its $1,500 prize is awarded for outstanding human interest reporting across platforms. Print, radio, broadcast and digital reporting are eligible for the award. All entries must have been published in the U.S. during 2019, though in the case of a series or ongoing story, work that appeared in January 2020 will be accepted. Journalists who report in a foreign language should submit copies of original stories with an English translation. No entry fee is required.

How to Nominate

ALL materials should be formatted and uploaded as PDFs. Supporting multimedia presentations can be sent as URLs. Links must remain live.

If you know a journalist who deserves to be recognized, please submit the completed nomination form and pertinent material.

To nominate a journalist, please submit the following materials:

A brief letter from the editor indicating the scope of the reporter's work.
A brief biography of the reporter.
Up to five articles/pieces published in 2019 that best typify the reporter’s work.

Please keep in mind:

A series must be designated as such by the publication when it is printed; a regular column may also be submitted as a series.
If material lives online, please provide direct links.
For all visual elements, the name of the photographer or graphic artist should be included on all entry forms.
Supporting material will not be returned.

Past Winners

See past winners:

Year	Name	Organization	Work	Judges
2018	John Woodrow Cox	The Washington Post	A series on children affected by gun violence: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	David Hajdu, Meg Kissinger, Karen Stabiner
2017	Eli Saslow	The Washington Post	A series showcasing pockets of suffering in white America: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	David Hajdu, Dale Maharidge, Paula Span
2016	Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller	The Marshall Project and ProPublica	“An Unbelievable Story of Rape”	David Hajdu, Dale Maharidge and Ruth Padawer
2015	Joanne Faryon and Brad Racino	inewsource	“An Impossible Choice: Deciding When a Life is No Longer Worth Living”	Andie Tucher, David Hajdu and Dale Maharidge
2014	Julia O’Malley	Anchorage Daily News	“The Things that Happen: Two Boys and Cancer”	Andie Tucher, David Hajdu and Jonathan Weiner
2013	Sheri Fink	Freelance	A series of pieces exploring the catastrophic consequences of bureaucratic, structural, and political failures during the deadly hurricane season of 2012.	David Hajdu, Michael Shapiro and Andie Tucher
2012	John Branch	New York Times	“Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer”	Sheila Coronel, Andie Tucher and Dale Maharidge
2011	Anne Barnard	New York Times	“A Parish Tested”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2010	Joanna Connors	The Plain Dealer	"The Sheltering Sky"	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2009	Brendan McCarthy	Times-Picayune	“Homicide 37”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2008	Michael Paulson	The Boston Globe	"Ma Siss’s Place: The Birth of a Church"	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2007	Abigail Tucker	The Baltimore Sun	2006 Reporting	Columbia Journalism School Faculty

Judges

The Berger Award is judged by Columbia Journalism School faculty.

Contact

Caroline Wernecke, Assistant Director, Professional Prizes
212-854-6468
cm3443@columbia.edu

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