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ZENGER PRIZE WINNERS 2022
Matthew Loftus
The New York Times, May 20, 2022
For an extraordinary pro-life piece by a Christian doctor in Kenya.
Angela Lu Fulton
WORLD Magazine, September 9, 2021
For the last in an incisive series of articles on the struggles of Christians in China.
Tim Alberta
The Atlantic, May 10, 2022
For street-level reporting that spotlights problems within evangelicalism without attacking biblical belief.
Sophia Lee Hyun
WORLD Magazine, November 27, 2019
For reporting in a conservative magazine that cuts against callousness concerning the border crisis.
Kara Bettis
Christianity Today, September 20, 2021
For showing specific detail of how a famous author lives—and not leaving out the misery that led to breakthrough.
Jon Ward
Yahoo! News, August 2, 2019
For an investigative story that explains why many African-Americans are skeptical about election reform measures that restrict voting.
Thomas Lake
CNN, May 21, 2019
For street-level reporting about Richard Phillips, who served the longest known wrongful prison sentence in American history.
WATCH: An extended (17-minute) video shows the inaugural Zenger Prize winners commenting on their work and the impetus behind it.
Danny Gold
The Guardian, July 19, 2019
For international reporting that shows how pastors helped hardened gang members to change their lives.
WATCH: This 4.5-minute video shows how the first class of Zenger Prize winners exhibits some of Zenger House's core tenets.
Zenger Prizes are the successor to the Amy Writing Awards administered by the Amy Foundation for 31 years through 2015. Prizes honor journalists whose work displayed solid reporting and storytelling.
Zenger Prize Winners' Recent Work
August 12, 2023/ "What the New Wave of Prison Art Tells Us About Incarceration Today"
Maurice Chammah's latest for The Marshall Project: "From LEGO sculptures to psychedelic quilts, several new exhibits convey the prison experience in ways that transcend words alone."
July 6, 2023/ "Transformation of a Transgender Teen"
Writing for The Gospel Coalition, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra reports on one family's experience with a child who claimed to be transgender.
July 5, 2023/ "The Young Christian Who Took Johnson & Johnson to Court"
Emily Belz for Christianity Today profiles Hanna Wilt, who "testified to God’s presence in a terminal diagnosis while pursuing a case against [Johnson & Johnson] over its baby powder."
June 25, 2023/ "He Tried to Save a Friend. They Charged Him With Murder."
In The New York Times, Eli Saslow offers a nuanced, narrative look at the complicated work of prosecuting drug deaths.
June 10, 2023/ "A Battle Over First Amendment Rights in Prisons"
Maurice Chammah co-writes an article for The Marshall Project about New York's attempts to limit prisoners' writings and artistic works.
June 2, 2023/ "Inside the Meltdown at CNN"
For a profile in The Atlantic, Tim Alberta gained remarkable access to Chris Licht in what would become his final days as head of CNN.
April 21, 2023/ "The deputy and the disappeared"
In a long-form article for CNN, Thomas Lake explores a deputy sheriff's apparent connection to two missing men of color.
April 17, 2023/ "Seeking Absolution: Inside The Jesus Movement That Shaped My Childhood"
Yahoo! News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward, on Religion Unplugged, shares an excerpt from his latest book, “Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation.”
March 24, 2023/ "Donald Trump Is on the Wrong Side of the Religious Right"
The Atlantic's Tim Alberta claims, "Evangelical leaders are abandoning the former president, and his Republican rivals are scrambling to win their support."
March 13, 2023/ "Mike Pence seems to know where he's going"
In a lengthy interview for Yahoo! News, Jon Ward talks to former Vice President—and prospective 2024 presidential candidate—Mike Pence.
February 16, 2023/ "Radical beliefs in 'spiritual warfare' played a major role in Jan. 6, an expert argues"
Jon Ward for Yahoo! News: "Religious scholar Matthew D. Taylor says the rhetoric of Christian nationalist pastors can tip over into actual violence."
February 15, 2023/ "Requiem for the Spartans"
Michigan State graduate Tim Alberta reflects on how the February 13th shooting at his alma mater has already changed the campus.
February 13, 2023/ "Ministers in Ukraine Are ‘Ready to Meet God at Any Moment’"
After a recent reporting trip to the war-torn country, Sophia Lee reports that "pastors and church leaders who stayed behind serve as if every day might be their last."
February 11, 2023/ "America Has Gone Too Far in Legalizing Vice"
In his debut for The Atlantic, Matthew Loftus considers how lawmakers restrict or permit the entrenchment of vice.
January 3, 2023/ "A Poet for 'Bruised Evangelicals'"
Kara Bettis offers another engaging profile in Christianity Today, this time of "Anglican priest, poet, academic, and singer-songwriter" Malcolm Guite.
October - December 2022/ The James Brown Podcast
For CNN, Thomas Lake explores the mysterious circumstances around the death of "The Godfather of Soul."