Associated Press Wins 2025 Collier Prize for State Government Accountability
The Collier Prize for State Government Accountability at the University of Florida, one of the largest journalism prizes in the nation, today announced the winners of its 2025 annual competition honoring excellence in state-level investigative and political reporting.
Administered by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, the Collier Prize honors investigations that held state institutions accountable and drove meaningful change. The first-place winners, Margie Mason and Robin McDowell of the Associated Press, will be honored at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
The Collier Prize, an annual award, grants $25,000 to the first place winner. The 2025 recipients were selected out of a competitive pool of nearly 100 entries submitted by news organizations from across the U.S.:
First Place: Associated Press, “Prison to Plate: Profiting off America’s Captive Workforce,” by Margie Mason and Robin McDowell. The two-year investigation exposed how deeply the U.S. supply chain relies on prison labor and the deplorable working conditions of the imprisoned workers. This reporting resulted in major businesses, including Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, and Home Depot, changing their practices or launching internal investigations.
Second Place: NBC News and Noticias Telemundo, “Dealing the Dead,” by Mike Hixenbaugh, Jon Schuppe, Liz Kreutz, Tyler Kingkade, Anagilmara Vilchez and the late Susan Carroll. The yearlong investigative series documented how the corpses of hundreds of unclaimed people were dissected by students at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, dismembered, and leased out across the country to researchers and medical technology companies. This reporting spurred immediate action by the university, uncovered additional negligence of unclaimed bodies in other states, and even informed families of the fates of their loved ones.
Third Place: Illinois Answers Project, “Strapped Down: Restraint Chairs in Illinois’ Jails,” by Grace Hauck, Meredith Newman and Janelle O’Dea is an examination of 92 jails across Illinois exposed the overuse, misuse, and abuse of restraint chairs in county jails. Their investigation found that jail staff left pre-trial detainees in chairs for hours to days, violating state standards, county policies, and manufacturer guidelines. The effort produced a lawsuit and a database compiling thousands of records, leading to state-wide reforms led by sheriffs and jail administrators.
As public trust in traditional media and government wanes, accountability journalism like these three projects are more vital than ever. The Collier Prize conducted a survey reaching hundreds of U.S. journalists involved in investigative work. The results found that these journalists face mounting obstacles when trying to obtain public records, secure interviews with officials, and navigate a media environment while increasingly challenged for the resources needed for investigative work. These complications were evident in the accounts of the 2025 Collier Prize winners, who faced challenges, roadblocks, and denials in their pursuit of the truth.
“The work conducted by these reporting teams is truly monumental, leading to internal investigations, reforms, and increased public awareness of issues plaguing our state institutions,” said Rick Hirsch, director of the Collier Prize. “The accounts revealed by the Collier Prize survey illustrate just how strained the relationships are between journalists and officials, highlighting the importance of programs that support investigative journalism.”
The Collier Prize is made possible through a generous endowment from Nathan S. Collier, founder and chairman of The Collier Companies, headquartered in Gainesville, Florida. Collier is a descendant of Peter Fenelon Collier, who in 1888 founded Collier’s, a weekly magazine focused on investigative journalism and publishing stories from renowned journalists such as Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Samuel Hopkins Adams.
Category: College News
Tagged: Associated Press Collier Prize for State Government Accountability NBC News Rick Hirsch
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