The Texas Tribune wins 5 top awards from Texas Managing Editors

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The Texas Tribune's journalists won five top honors in the annual awards conferred by Texas Managing Editors, which represents news leaders across our state. The awards, which recognize work published in 2024, were announced this weekend in San Antonio at the group’s annual conference.

Our coverage of the Texas-Mexico border was particularly recognized. Our investigation into the state's border wall construction by Zach Despart, Yuriko Schumacher, Uriel J. García, Ben Lowy, and Eli Hartman won Star Online Package. It also received the Freedom of Information Award. The story used open records, photography and shoe-leather reporting to unveil for the first time the full picture of where and how Texas has constructed border wall under Gov. Greg Abbott's administration and how the $3.1 billion effort has so far yielded little return on billions of dollars invested. The judges wrote,"Exceptional look at how rhetoric, policy, practicality and the human element all intersect. Informative marriage of data and resources with the stories of those most intimately connected to the rural border. Great visual/graphic elements that elevate the narrative." And Ben Lowy, a freelance photographer who frequently contributes to the Tribune, was awarded first place for feature photography for his photos for the border wall story.

Our broader coverage of the border also received a first place award for Team Effort. That work recognized the border wall story, alongside other collaborations such as a piece produced with the Associated Press describing a typical 24 hours on the border and coverage by Perla Trevizo from our joint investigative unit with ProPublica. The judges wrote, "Wow. An outstanding piece of investigative journalism that shows the true value of teamwork in getting beyond the rhetoric and uncovering the truth behind one of the hottest topics in politics today." This award was given to Tribune journalists Despart, Schumacher, García, Berenice Garcia, Alejandro Serrano, Elijah Nicholson-Messmer and Jakob Maurer, alongside Trevizo from the Tribune and ProPublica and AP journalists Juan A. Lozano and Elliot Spagat.

Schumacher, a member of our data visuals team, was also recognized as the Designer of the Year for her broader body of work, which includes the border wall story and pieces related to elections, climate change and health care. The judges wrote of Schumacher, "Innovative use of web page design to create interesting and interactive stories that grab and hold attention. Complex data is explained and presented neatly, and some of the explainer maps and charts are really sharp and compelling. Overall page designs are clean and flow well."

The Tribune also placed in several other categories. Schumacher received a second place recognition for Infographics; Kayla Guo and Eleanor Klibanoff won second place for Star Breaking News Report; Zach Despart won second place for the Michael Brick Storytelling Award; Robert Downen won third place for Star Investigative Report; Pooja Salhotra won honorable mention for Specialty Reporting, and the Tribune staff won honorable mention for Star Breaking News Report.

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