Headline Club announced winners at FOIA Fest 2025 on Saturday, March 21.
The Chicago Headline Club is thrilled to announce the winners of the Watchdog Award for Public Interest and the A-Mark Prize for Dogged Reporting and Editing.
Chicago Public Media staff won the Watchdog Award for Public Interest for “Chicago Renters Cast Adrift.”
Tied for second place: Erika Slife and the staff of the Chicago Tribune for Operation Midway Blitz coverage and the Tribune’s Emily Hoerner, Christy Gutowski, and Lisa Schencker’s for “Hospitals and Guardianship.”
Dorothy Tucker, Samah Assad, and Reed Nolan of WBBM CBS News Chicago won third place for “Licensed & Locked up.”
Frank Main and Alexandra Salomon of Chicago Public Media won first place for the A-Mark Prize for Dogged Reporting and Editing for “Chicago Under Ice.”
Block Club Chicago staff won second place for “Chicago Under Siege: Block Club’s Coverage of Operation Midway Blitz.”
And Block Club Chicago’s Manny Ramos, Mick Dumke, Stephanie Lulay, Jen Sabella and Kelly Bauer won third place for “Some Call It ‘Death Hospital’: Inside The Northwest Side Medical Center Plagued By Problems.”
The A-Mark Prize for Dogged Reporting, sponsored by the A-Mark Foundation, honors one or more reporters who overcame significant challenges in order to reach publication, such as FOIA legal battles, reticent public officials or other institutional barriers. First-, second- and third-place winners, and their outlets, will receive a cash prize.
And each year, the Chicago Headline Club’s Watchdog Award presents a cash prize to Chicago-area journalists for enterprising journalism that defends and protects everyday folks.
Each award is judged by a panel of top investigative journalists without ties to the Chicago area.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their work to these awards.
On March 27, the Chicago Headline Club will announce the finalists for the 48th Annual Peter Lisagor Awards.