April 23, 2025 — The Nina Mason Pulliam Award recognizes the “best of the best” among winners of the Society of Environmental Journalists annual reporting awards. The 2024 Pulliam Award goes to the reporting team from Grist for its investigation into state trust lands — what Grist calls “one of the best-kept public secrets in America.” The reporting team included Tristan Ahtone, Robert Lee, Amanda Tachine, An Garagiola, Audrianna Goodwin, Maria Parazo Rose and Clayton Aldern.
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| Screenshot of first-place story, Carmody Reporting, Small |
The judges said: "Linking personal narrative with rigorous analysis, 'Misplaced Trust' examines the financial relationship between Indigenous lands, land-grant universities and the state trust lands that help fund those public institutions. A heroic data-gathering effort informed the reporting. By constructing an original dataset on the source, use and revenue from more than 8.3 million acres of surface and subsurface trust lands that were taken from tribal nations, Grist was able to convey the long reach of history — how dispossession of Indigenous lands in the 19th century enables extractive industries today that benefit our flagship institutes of higher education.
"Not only did Grist display masterful reporting, graphics and data skills. The news organization also demonstrated collegial generosity. The dataset, methods and tutorials were made available to other outlets so that they could pursue additional stories. This extended the reach of an impressive project that advances knowledge about core U.S. institutions and their environmental footprint."
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| Screenshot of first-place project, Carmody Reporting, Large |
The judges also granted an Honorable Mention to a team from Reuters for their series "The Bat Lands."
The judges said: "A stylistically unique series rooted in original scientific inquiry, 'The Bat Lands' combined ecological data with firsthand experience and information about recent infectious disease outbreaks to identify 'jump zones' — areas globally at high risk for spillover events. To accompany the development of this critically needed model, the Reuters team put boots on the ground to report on the people and stories in the jump zones, bringing voices to the table that are not traditionally highlighted in global health coverage. Illustrations, easily understood statistics and interactive formatting make the articles accessible to the general public, helping us all to be more aware of pathogen emergence and better prepared for the next pandemic."
Congratulations to the Reuters team: Ryan McNeill, Deborah J. Nelson, Allison Martell, Helen Reid, Grant Smith, Adolfo Arranz, Michael Ovaska, Sam Hart, Sreekanth Sivadasan, Jake Spring, Cooper Inveen, Prasanta Kumar Dutta, Matthew Green, Ruma Paul, Rupam Jain and Andrew R.C. Marshall.
Many thanks to our esteemed volunteer awards judges and screeners for their hard work selecting from so many incredible entries.
>> Back to the Pulliam winners main page.
The Nina Mason Pulliam Award for the "best of the best" environmental reporting awards $10,000 to the winning entry. The prize also includes travel, registration and hotel expenses (up to $2500) for the winner, or representative of the winning team, to attend SEJ's annual conference.
The Award is sponsored by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, in association with the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Established in the memory of Nina Mason Pulliam, who owned and operated an American national newspaper company with her husband, Eugene C. Pulliam, the Trust is proud to support environmental reporting and journalists who shine light in dark places and keep citizens informed about the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Contact: Kristina Perez, Director of Communications and External Relations
SEJ Contact: SEJ@sej.org
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