The Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award | Columbia Journalism School

#TobenkinAward

The Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award honors the late New York Herald Tribune reporter and recognizes outstanding achievements in reporting on racial or religious hatred, intolerance or discrimination in the United States.

Jump to:

2023 Paul Tobenkin Award Winner

2023 Paul Tobenkin Award Winner Citation:

Yvette Cabrera, a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, has won the 2023 Paul Tobenkin Award for her investigation of the devastating effects of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. Published with ICT, formerly Indian Country Today, Cabrera’s investigation laid bare generations of suffering caused by radioactive waste from hundreds of uranium mines the U.S. government used to make nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Earl Tulley, a Navajo activist who tried to hold the government accountable for the multitude of cancers and deaths in his community caused by the toxic waste, was a key source in Cabrera’s reporting. But when Tulley discovered during the reporting that he had an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer linked to radiation exposure, he became the centerpiece of the narrative. Cabrera powerfully traces Tulley’s story in the Blue Gap-Tachee community against a bleak history of destruction and neglect by the U.S. government on Navajo land. The result is a story of unbreakable courage in the face of systemic cruelty.

Read the full announcement.

How to Enter

The Tobenkin Award is now closed for nominations.

The Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award and its $1,500 prize is given for distinguished reporting about race, discrimination and religious intolerance. Authors may submit a portfolio of single articles or a published series. Print, radio, broadcast, and digital reporting are eligible for the award. All entries must have been published in the U.S. during 2021, though in the case of a series or ongoing story, work that appeared in January 2022 will be accepted.

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. There is no entry fee.

To nominate a journalist, please submit the following materials:

A brief letter from the editor indicating the scope of the reporter's work, including links to any websites created for the project.
A brief biography of the reporter.
Up to five articles published in 2021 that best typify the reporter's work.

Please keep in mind:

Published stories may take the form of a single project, a portfolio of the reporter’s best work or 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.

About

The Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award was established at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1959 — during the heart of the civil rights movement — to honor Paul Tobenkin, The New York Herald Tribune reporter’s work and to recognize outstanding achievements in reporting on racial or religious hatred, intolerance or discrimination in the United States.

The award honors the reporting of stories that ferret out instances of racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination. Authors may submit a portfolio of single pieces or a published series. 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.

Newsday Correspondent Bonnie Angelo received the award in 1961 for her series, “The Battle for Prince Edward, Virginia.” At the time, Prince Edward County shut down its public school system to avoid integration as ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Angelo was cited for her “well reported, well documented and researched and extremely well written series” that brought quick action by the U.S. government and aid from Long Island residents to help black students unable to attend schools.

Past awards highlighted the work of The Denver Post, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Reporter for racial and ethnic reporting that exposed uncovered discrimination and challenged the status quo. The Let’s Do It Better! Workshop on Journalism, Race and Ethnicity also incorporated the Tobenkin Award in its list of workshop honorees.

Past Winners

See past winners:

Year	Name	Organization	Work	Judges
2021	Susan Ferriss, Joe Yerardi, and Taylor Johnston (Winners) Justine van der Leun (Finalist)	Center for Public Integrity Type Investigations	"Hidden Hardship" "The Evidence Against Her"	Nina Alvarez, Dolores A. Barclay, Elena Cabral
2020	Kyle Hopkins	Anchorage Daily News	“Lawless”	Elena Cabral, Lisa R. Cohen, Ari Goldman
2019	Ginger Thompson, Michael Grabell and Topher Sanders	ProPublica	"Zero Tolerance"	Daniel Alarcón, Elena Cabral and Lonnie Isabel
2018	Reporters	ProPublica and the Florida Times-Union	"Walking While Black"	Daniel Alarcón, Elena Cabral, Lonnie Isabel
2017	Jenni Monet (Winner); Will Evans (Special Citation)	Independent Journalist; Reveal	Coverage of the Standing Rock Sioux battle against the Dakota Access oil pipeline: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Account of the widespread employer practice of using temp agencies to discriminate against workers based on race, gender, age and even sexual orientation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	Elena Cabral, Jelani Cobb, Keith Gessen
2016	Terrence McCoy (Winner, ’12 MA Politics graduate); Talia Buford, Ronnie Greene, Kristen Lombardi and Amber Payne (Special Citation)	The Washington Post; The Center for Public Integrity and NBCBLK	Investigative stories about lead poisoning victims [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]; "Environmental Justice, Denied"	Elena Cabral, June Cross and Abi Wright
2015	Mark Puente	The Baltimore Sun	“Undue Force”	Elena Cabral, Barbara Kantrowitz and Abi Wright
2014	Susan Ferriss	Center for Public Integrity	“Throwaway Kids”	Elena Cabral, June Cross, Barbara Kantrowitz
2013	Nikole Hannah-Jones	ProPublica	"Living Apart: Fair Housing in America"	Elena Cabral, June Cross and Barbara Kantrowitz
2012	Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley and Eileen Sullivan	The Associated Press	Series outlining the NYPD’s surveillance of minority and particularly Muslim neighborhoods since the 9/11 terror attacks	Elena Cabral, Howard French and Barbara Kantrowitz
2011	Tina Griego	The Denver Post	“Raising Sun Valley”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2010	Nina Bernstein	The New York Times	Series of articles that documented the mistreatment of immigrants in federal custody	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2009	The Chauncey Bailey Project	Collaboration of a number of journalists and Bay Area news organizations	The project was conceived to probe the assassination of an Oakland journalist who was investigating a business called “Your Black Muslim Bakery.”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2008	Michael Riley	The Denver Post	“Lawless Lands,”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2006	Alysia Tate	The Chicago Reporter	“Chicago Matters”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty
2005	Steve Hymon, Mitchell Landsberg, Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Robert Gauthier	The Los Angeles Times	“The Troubles at King/Drew”	Columbia Journalism School Faculty

Judges

The Tobenkin Award is judged by Columbia Journalism School faculty.

Contact Us

212-854-6468
[email protected]

Sign up for the Columbia Journalism Awards quarterly newsletter to receive information on prize open and close dates, entry requirements, and prizewinners. Our newsletter is the best way to stay in the know on all things related to the journalism awards at Columbia University.