The 2025 duPont-Columbia Awards Celebrate Sound, Sight and Storytelling
Water crises, stolen lands and artistic resistance: all recognized at the 83rd annual Awards ceremony.
Last night, journalists gathered at Columbia University’s Low Library to celebrate the 2025 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards.
This year’s sixteen silver baton winners shed light on critical issues like racial justice, environmental challenges and police misconduct. Co-hosted by 60 Minutes anchor Bill Whitaker and NPR’s Steve Inskeep, the ceremony underscored journalism’s role in driving change.
“It's a pleasure and an honor to be here tonight with so many old friends and distinguished journalists,” said Whitaker in his opening remarks. “You show us who we are, help us see what we're doing right so we can do more of it, and what we're doing wrong so we can address it.”
“One of the stories we're honoring tonight includes this line: ‘How did this happen, and why should we care?’ That question gives us a guidepost, or even a business model, in these uncertain times.”
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Slide 1: Dean Jelani Cobb hands the silver baton to Alexia Fernández Campbell, recipient of the 2025 duPont-Columbia Award, for her team's work on 40 Acres and a Lie. Photo: Chris Taggert
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Slide 2: Phil Williams accepts his fifth duPont-Columbia Award. This year, his team from WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 Nashville was recognized for their investigation into right-wing extremist groups in Tennessee. Photo: Chris Taggert
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Slide 3: CBS News 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker opened the ceremony as one of the 2025 duPont-Columbia Awards co-hosts. Photo: Chris Taggert
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Slide 4: Left to right: NPR CEO Katherine Maher, Host of NPR's Morning Edition Steve Inskeep, CBS News 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker and Dean Jelani Cobb. Photo: Chris Taggert
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Slide 5: NPR accepts their 2025 duPont-Columbia Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza. Photo: Chris Taggert

Dean Jelani Cobb hands the silver baton to Alexia Fernández Campbell, recipient of the 2025 duPont-Columbia Award, for her team's work on 40 Acres and a Lie. Photo: Chris Taggert

Phil Williams accepts his fifth duPont-Columbia Award. This year, his team from WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 Nashville was recognized for their investigation into right-wing extremist groups in Tennessee. Photo: Chris Taggert

CBS News 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker opened the ceremony as one of the 2025 duPont-Columbia Awards co-hosts. Photo: Chris Taggert

Left to right: NPR CEO Katherine Maher, Host of NPR's Morning Edition Steve Inskeep, CBS News 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker and Dean Jelani Cobb. Photo: Chris Taggert

NPR accepts their 2025 duPont-Columbia Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza. Photo: Chris Taggert
During the ceremony, Dean Jelani Cobb highlighted the Awards’ legacy of honoring journalism that serves the public good and safeguards democracy: “By maintaining the legacy of Jessie Ball DuPont to honor her husband, Alfred I. DuPont, you help us elevate the standards of excellence for journalists everywhere.”
The evening ended with a powerful reflection on the importance of truth, collaboration and ingenuity from the team behind “Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney,” a story of forced reproduction in the antebellum South.
“Telling truths, especially the ones buried away, is a radical act,” said director Nazenet Habtezghi during the documentary’s silver baton acceptance. “It disrupts erasure, challenges power, and gives voice to the silence in a time when truth itself is under attack. This work — our work — is as essential as ever.”
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Hate Comes to Main Street
WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 Nashville & Phil Williams -
The Wrong Man
KFOR, Oklahoma City & Ali Meyer -
Murder in Boston
HBO | Max, Little Room Films & The Boston Globe (Docuseries)
The Boston Globe & HBO (Podcast) -
We Regret to Inform You
Reveal, The Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley & PRX -
Maine Shooting: Missed Warnings
Scripps News -
The Wild West of Education
ABC10 KXTV, Sacramento & Andie Judson -
We Don’t Talk About Leonard
ProPublica & On the Media | WNYC Studios
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Battleground Texas
VICE News -
40 Acres and a Lie
Reveal, The Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones & PRX -
The Space Race
National Geographic Documentary Films, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Alegria Films & Cortés Filmworks -
Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
MTV Documentary Films, Take Flight Films & Firelight Films -
You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolfpack
Netflix & Lucernam Films -
China: The Superpower of Seafood
The Outlaw Ocean Project -
The War in Gaza Coverage
NPR -
Porcelain War
Songbird Studios & Imaginary Lane