Announcing the Winners of the 2026 WERT Global and Welles Prizes

The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economics Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism announced that reporters from Business Insider and The Washington Post will receive its annual prizes. 

Both the WERT and Welles awards were presented at the Knight-Bagehot 51st Anniversary Dinner at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on October 29. 

This year’s WERT Global Prize, which recognizes outstanding business reporting by a woman, was awarded to Reem Makhoul, a video producer from Business Insider whose dynamic reporting on Gaza addressed the war from a business angle. In her short documentary, “We Mapped Out Gaza’s Deadly Food Economy,” Makhoul explained how citizens in Gaza find food and pay for it in a broken economy. Through her reporting, Makhoul explored how hyperinflation turned staples like flour into an unaffordable luxury, and exposed why humanitarian aid was being sold to those in need. 

Utilizing her contacts on the ground and local knowledge, Makhoul remotely produced footage in Gaza captured by a freelance videographer who went undercover to film currency dealers charging commissions of up to 50%. Her reporting exposed the everyday struggle for food, the effects of war, and how the lives of people in Gaza have been impacted by a damaged banking system. 

“Makhoul's detailing of the collapse of Gaza's economy is a remarkable use of video to explain the often complicated topics of supply and demand, currency, and logistics,” said WERT judge Kimberly Johnson. “In following the difficult and dangerous path Gazans take to secure a basic staple such as flour, she not only tells a gripping tale, but offers viewers greater insight and understanding of the financial implications of war.” 

This year, the Welles Prize was awarded to Douglas MacMillan from The Washington Post, who spent 17 months reporting on President Trump’s historic expansion of immigration detention. MacMillan followed the money to executives and investors who were profiting from housing immigrants in substandard facilities. The Knight-Bagehot class of 2017 alum used leaked documents, developed connections around ICE, and found sources inside Trump's administration to support his groundbreaking investigation.

Welles judge Leslie Wayne called MacMillan's series “powerfully revealing.”

 “The stories sparked a national conversation about conditions in ICE detention facilities and gave the nation a peek inside places that the administration wants to shroud in secrecy,” said Wayne. “Even more, the reporting led to changes.” 

The Washington Post was the first to publish details about ICE’s plan to retrofit industrial warehouses into immigrant detention centers, which led to local communities pushing back and successfully getting ICE to reverse course in more than a dozen cities. MacMillan’s report on ICE’s expansion of GPS ankle monitors also led to a class-action lawsuit arguing for the release of thousands impacted. 

“This is an example of what dedicated and fearless reporting can do,” added Wayne. 

About the prizes: 

The WERT Global Prize honors excellence in comprehensively reported business journalism by a woman that fosters a greater understanding of global business. The WERT Global Prize was established in 2018 and is funded by a bequest from the Women’s Economic Round Table and support from the Muriel F. Siebert Foundation and the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. 

The WERT Global Prize selection committee members included Kimberly Johnson, Corporate Editor, The New York Times; Jessica Liebman, Chief People Officer, Business Insider; and Kimi Yoshino, Managing Editor, The Washington Post. Knight-Bagehot alumni who read entries in the first round of judging included Ralf Rivas, Ken Sweet, Sarah Ryley, and Esmy Jimenez.

The Welles Prize honors the memory of Christopher J. Welles, a former director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship and a top business writer known for his penetrating accounts of malfeasance, corruption, and corporate collapses. It is given annually to a Knight-Bagehot graduate. 

Knight-Bagehot alumni participating in the Welles Prize selection included Quentin Hardy (95’), Principal of communications consultancy LGTM; Brittany Jones-Cooper (25’), Deputy Director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship; and Leslie Wayne (80’), a New York Times Contributing writer. 

The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship offers experienced journalists the opportunity to enhance their understanding and knowledge of business, economics, finance and technology through a one-year, fully funded full-time program run by Columbia Journalism School. The fellowship is named for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami, which established an endowment for the program, and Walter Bagehot, the 19th­-century editor of The Economist.