• Arizona Luminaria for an investigation revealing a pattern of abusive treatment, drugs and outsourced medical care in Arizona’s Pima County jail — a facility with one of the highest death rates in the country. 

• New Mexico In Depth for an investigation on alcohol-related deaths in New Mexico prompting state lawmakers to propose a new Office of Alcohol Prevention and sparking a campaign to raise the state's alcohol excise tax. 

• Wisconsin Watch for unearthing a mountain of evidence that Milwaukee Tool was using prison labor in China to manufacture its work gloves. The U.S. Department of State is looking into the allegations.

• Texas Tribune, ProPublica and Military Times for a joint investigation revealing that soldiers accused of sexual assault are far less likely to be placed in pretrial confinement than those accused of other offenses, prompting a call for congressional hearings.

• Feet in 2 Worlds for a podcast series painting a diverse and complex portrait of the Chinese immigrant community in NYC — sharing the stories of voters, a pair of artists, and a family divided by their beliefs. 

• Flatwater Free Press for a series linking the source of cancer-causing nitrate and uranium in Nebraska's water to fertilizer for corn, prompting the state legislature to introduce four new water-quality bills. 

• The Connecticut Mirror for reporting that women with children — particularly women of color — were disproportionately affected by evictions, encouraging the passage of state affordable housing legislation and tenant protections. 

• EdSource for revealing that a California library slated by city leaders to be turned into a police station wasn’t underused, just underfunded — leading the library to be preserved. 

• Voices of Monterey Bay for centering the voices of some of the most marginalized members of society, the formerly incarcerated and those still serving time — catalyzing a series of workshops that are helping reshape society’s narrative about rehabilitation. 

• The Appeal for coverage by incarcerated writer Christopher Blackwell that secured one man’s chance for post-conviction relief and contributed to growing support for a change in how juvenile records are used in sentencing. 

• Searchlight New Mexico and ProPublica for revealing that closures of residential treatment centers for adolescents landed the kids not in foster care but homeless shelters — leading to an executive order from the governor reforming the state’s child welfare department. 

• The Center for Public Integrity (in partnership with other outlets) for discovering that about 300,000 students experiencing homelessness were not counted by their school districts and thus denied federal aid. Following the reporting, Congress increased support for these students by 13 percent. 

• Open Vallejo for reporting that city officials knowingly destroyed vital evidence in police shootings and violated transparency laws. The reporting and a lawsuit that followed led California's Attorney General to consider a civil rights investigation. 

• Mission Local for coverage of San Francisco’s proposal to equip law enforcement with lethal robots, leading the city Board of Supervisors, which initially approved the proposal, to reverse its decision.  

• Spotlight PA for exposing a sexual extortion case and revealing how Penn State's Board of Trustees executive committee likely violated the state's open meetings laws. 

• Global Press Journal for informing residents of mining communities (and an international audience) that Zimbabwe’s government had continued to unofficially encourage the use of mercury in gold mining after banning its use.  

• Cicero Independiente for restructuring its fellowship program after learning of interest from older community members who spoke only Spanish, creating an intergenerational cohort for local news gathering. 

• Anthropocene Magazine for The Climate Parables, a series of speculative fiction from award-winning climate writers that helps readers envision the possibility of implementing creative solutions to the climate crisis, utilizing science, technology, art and more. 

• Sahan Journal for creating an audio-only newsletter, delivered by voice notes over SMS, to connect Minnesota’s Somali community, thus creating a blueprint for reaching other oral-based cultures and communities. 

• Planet Detroit for a film portraying Black-led groups engaging in birdwatching, fishing, hiking and kayaking as acts of liberation and a way to equip a new generation of environmental activists. 

• San Francisco Public Press for a reporter’s 12-hour documentation of a crackdown on residents experiencing homelessness by Berkeley police and officials, showing lives turned upside down by municipal power. 

• San Antonio Report for a behind-the-scenes look at a band director's successful efforts to rebuild Sam Houston High's award-winning marching band, which was down to four students at the start of the 2021-22 school year. 

• The 74 for a multimedia series profiling 12 educators and mentors who went above and beyond to bolster schools and communities after the pandemic, identifying them as “weavers” of the social fabric. 

• Resolve Philly’s leaders Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes took the Service to Nonprofit News Award for growing Resolve Philly over five years and developing a reporting model seen as the gold standard for local news collaboration – replicated in dozens of newsrooms worldwide and written into school curricula.

• The Kansas City Defender’s Ryan Sorrell is the 2023 Emerging Leader of the Year for founding the newsroom in 2021 to center Black voices and making it one of the nation's fastest-growing Black digital news startups, reaching over 50 million impressions, with 50% of its audience between the ages of 13 and 30.

• The Center for Public Integrity’s Ashley Clarke is the Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year for leveraging her role as audience engagement editor to forge equitable partnerships with local news outlets and the communities they cover.