The 2024 duPont-Columbia Awards
Deeply Reported, Well Told.
Announcing the 2024 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalists
Columbia Journalism School announced the 30 Finalists of the 2024 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, honoring outstanding public service audio and video reporting. Four ABC News stories received Finalist honors; two for reporting on the environment, one for coverage of the Uvalde school shooting, and one about the maternal health crisis in America. Coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine from The New York Times and The Associated Press with FRONTLINE on PBS are Finalists, and, for the first time, The Wall Street Journal is a Finalist for their documentary on the Wagner Group. Coverage of Afghanistan from FRONTLINE on PBS and CBS News 60 Minutes also received Finalist honors. Ten of the Finalists honored local newsrooms, including two of the audio Finalists from WBUR and NHPR. The 2024 duPont-Columbia Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at Columbia’s Low Library.
The 2024 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalists are:
60 Minutes: The Girls of SOLA
CBS News
One year after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, this powerful story of resilience profiled the only Afghan school for girls in the world, one that has been transplanted into a different world - in Rwanda.
Behind the Blue Line
7 News I-Team & WKBW-TV
Accountability journalism at its best provided one local community with the secretive disciplinary records of police officers who, while charged with defending the law, violated it themselves.
Conduct Unbecoming: Detroit's Dangerous Cops
Ross Jones & WXYZ-TV Detroit
The 7 Action News team methodically exposed a disturbing pattern in the Detroit Police Department: overlooking criminal behavior within its ranks, from domestic violence to unprovoked assault.
DCFS Survivors
Dave Savini & WBBM-TV
This seven-part series brought to light the repeated failures of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services to protect the foster children in their care, and documented the incompetence and lies of a broken agency that placed a 16-year-old sex trafficked girl in the home of a 24-year-old pimp.
Field Trip
The Washington Post
Host Lilian Cunningham and her team produced a dazzling audio documentary about the majesty of five American national parks and the monumental job of protecting them from the destructive impact of climate change.
Kinship Care in Colorado
Darius Johnson & KUSA 9NEWS Denver
A dogged investigation into the flawed Colorado Kinship Care program spotlighted the death of 8-year-old Dametrious Wilson who was murdered after being placed - without any oversight - into the care of an abusive aunt.
Last Flight Home
MTV Documentary Films
The last days of terminally ill Eli Timoner, who opted to end his life under California law, were documented with humor, compassion and determination in a feature length film by his daughters and family.
Secrecy and Violence: How a Privacy Law Intended to Help Victims Wound Up Protecting Police and Abusers
WBUR
WBUR’s year-long series revealed the unintended consequences of Massachusetts’ unique and sweeping privacy law: meant to help victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, the law has instead protected perpetrators and shielded police from scrutiny.
Shadow Men: Inside Wagner, Russia's Secret War Company
The Wall Street Journal
This deeply researched investigation documented for the first time the hidden international web of shell companies and corrupt politics that turned Russia's shadowy Wagner Group into a multi-billion dollar global force of malign influence.
Embedded: Taking Cover
NPR
This powerful and engaging podcast series uncovered lies told by senior military officers to grieving families, that their loved ones died fighting the enemy, when in fact they were killed by friendly fire.
The Territory
National Geographic Documentary Films
This engaging documentary profiled the Uru-eu-wau-wau - a shrinking tribe in the Brazilian Amazon led by a 19-year-old tech savvy chief who is using video cameras and drones to keep loggers and ranchers off their land.
The Trek: A Migrant Trail to America
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper CNN Worldwide
In this wrenching story of despair and hope, CNN Reporter Nick Patton Walsh and his team traveled with a group of migrants from Colombia making the dangerous journey through the Darien Gap, across 66 miles of thick jungle, knee-deep mud, and violent predators.
Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo
HBO | Max
This documentary series told the horrifying story of the global megachurch La Luz del Mundo and the sexual abuse members say was inflicted by multiple generations of “apostles,” the family leading the church.
Uvalde 365: A Year in the Community
ABC News
After the school shooting in Uvalde, ABC News committed a full year of resources to produce more than 250 stories in this cross-platform series that provided social and cultural context along with a deep understanding of what happened and why.