Literary award · United States · since 1949

George Polk Award

American journalism prize. Established 1949 in United States.

About George Polk Award

The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award as "one of only a couple of journalism prizes that means anything". The award is described as follows: For 75 years, LIU has been the proud home of the George Polk Awards in Journalism, the first major award of its kind to recognize reporting across all media. This prestigious honor focuses on the intrepid, bold, and influential work of the reporters themselves, placing a premium on investigative work that is original, resourceful, and thought-provoking.

From the Wikipedia article “George Polk Awards”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Recent winners

YearWinnerWinning work
2024Ronen Bergman—
2021Sarah Stillman—
2021Luke Mogelson—
2021Yong Xiong—
2020Eli Saslow—
2020Margaret Wickens Pearce—
2020Ed Yong—
2019Craig Whitlock—
2019Nikole Hannah-Jones—
2019Chance Swaim—
2019Jonathan Shorman—

From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.

Eligibility and entering

Check the official rules of the George Polk Award for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.

Sources & data