Winners of the 2025 Collier Prize for State Government Accountability were recognized during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last month in Washington, D.C. The annual award highlights investigative journalism that uncovers wrongdoing and promotes transparency in state governments across the United States.
The Associated Press received the first-place award and a $25,000 prize for its series, “Prison to Plate: Profiting off America’s Captive Workforce.” The investigation examined how prison labor is used in commercial supply chains and led to several companies severing relationships with suppliers found to be using incarcerated workers.
Second place was awarded to NBC News and Noticias Telemundo for “Dealing the Dead,” which explored the largely unregulated body brokering industry. The Illinois Answers Project earned third place for its reporting project “Strapped Down,” which investigated the use of restraint chairs in jails across Illinois.
The Collier Prize is administered by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. It is among the largest journalism awards in the United States dedicated to state-level investigative reporting and is funded through an endowment from The Collier Companies.