Newhouse School Announces Finalists in 2025 Mirror Awards Competition

Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications today announced the finalists in the 2025 Mirror Awards competition, which honors excellence in media industry reporting. Winners will be announced June 9 at an awards ceremony in New York City.

The finalists, selected by a group of journalists and journalism educators, are:

Best Single Article/Story

• Brian Stelter, The Atlantic: “The Real Story of the Crisis at The Washington Post” 
• Kyle Paoletta, Columbia Journalism Review: “A New Normal” 
• Katie Thornton, Rolling Stone: “Jesus, Take The Dial” (subscription required)
• John Daniszewski, Laura Colarusso, Megan Cattel and Fatma Khaled, Nieman Reports: “Unparalleled and Unprecedented”

Best Profile

• Jack Herrera, Columbia Journalism Review: “La Periodista de Iowa” 
• Amaris Castillo, Poynter.org: “In New Orleans, a pioneering nonprofit newsroom ponders a future beyond its founder”
• Aidan McLaughlin, The Spectator World: “Inside the unlikely success of Patrick Bet-David”  

Best Commentary

• Jon Allsop, Columbia Journalism Review
  • “The cynicism of blaming the media for the Trump assassination attempt”   
  • “Is the press ‘sanewashing’ Trump? 
  • “NATO bombed a Chinese embassy. Twenty-five years on, the battle for the narrative continues.” 
• Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker: “Fault Lines” (subscription required)
  • “How Biased is the Media, Really?” 
  • “Arguing Ourselves to Death” 
  • “It’s Time to Show Trump Speeches Again” 
• Clare Malone, The New Yorker: “Media Writing” (subscription required)
  • “The Meme-ificiation of American Politics” 
  • “Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?” 
  • “Is Hunterbrook Media a News Outlet or a Hedge Fund?” 
• Jessica Bennett, The New York Times
  • “The Audacity of E. Jean Carroll” 
  • “‘Accordion Hands’ and ‘Caterpillar Eyebrows’: Trump Meets the Female Gaze” 
  • “Trump Is ‘Weird,’ Vance Is ‘Creepy.’ Finally, the Democrats Start Name-Calling”

John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting

• Jason Buch, Texas Observer/palabra/PBS
  • “La Gordiloca Goes To Court” 
  • “La Gordiloca Lost, So did Journalism” 
  • “Freedom to Inform” 
• Manuel Roig-Franzia and Hope Hodge Seck, The Washington Post (subscription required)
  • “A Taliban revenge killing prompts questions, removal of an acclaimed documentary” 
  • “Murrow Award rescinded for acclaimed ‘Retrograde’ documentary” 
• Ann Cooper, Gabe Bullard and Laura Colarusso, Nieman Reports 
  • “Unerased” 
  • “Saving the First Draft of History” 
  • “We Had No Place to Save the Stories” 

About the Mirror Awards

Established by the Newhouse School in 2006, the Mirror Awards are the preeminent  competition in the field of media industry reporting. They recognize the reporters, editors and writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.

For information about the awards, visit newhouse.syracuse.edu/mirrorawards or email mirrorawards@syr.edu.