Audible, Gimlet And ‘This American Life’ Win duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards.
The 2023 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards were announced Monday night and first-time nominees Gimlet Media and Audible walked away winners, as did This American Life.
Gimlet Media’s Stolen was honored for its second season titled “Surviving St. Michael's.” The podcast began as journalist Connie Walker’s journey to untangle her own family mystery and unearths how her family's story fits into one of Canada's darkest chapters: the residential school system and its painful legacy of multi-generational damage.
"We owe our biggest thanks to the survivors of St. Michael's. Without their strength and resilience, I wouldn't be here," Walker said in accepting the silver baton.
Audible picked up its first trophy for its true crime podcast Finding Tamika. It tells the story of the 2004 disappearance of a Spartanburg, SC woman. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
"Black girls and women don't have to go missing, for us not to see them," producer Erika Alexander said in accepting the award.
Finding Tamika is one of the shows produced as part of the partnership between actor Kevin Hart and radio host Charlamagne Tha God as part of their multiyear, multi-project licensing deal with Audible.
The Awards also honored This American Life once again for episode No. 758 titled “Talking While Black.” Two years after the racial protests of 2020, the audio report traced the story of Black Americans unexpectedly caught up in the backlash against Black Lives Matter, including a Michigan teen shockingly sold by her white classmates in a virtual slave auction. The duPont Jury called the episode, “This American Life at its best.”
"I just want to remind everyone that sometimes our feelings can be the truth," Executive Editor Emanuele Berry said on accepting the award for the team.
The duPont-Columbia Awards, which honor outstanding public service audio and video reporting, were selected by a jury of journalists. Awards nominees had also included Pineapple Street’s series 9/12 and the Slate series Slow Burn for its season that looked back at the L.A. Riots.
The Columbia Journalism School announced the 16 winners during a presentation on Monday night in New York highlighting outstanding reporting in the public interest. PBS and CNN led the evening with four wins.
“This has been such an extraordinary year of events, both in trouble spots abroad and troubling stories at home, requiring reporters to span the world and dig deep locally,” said duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen. “We are humbled, as always, to honor these brave and dogged journalists.”
Watch a replay of Monday’s ceremonies HERE.