The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism [1] administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, honors investigative reporting of stories of national significance where the public interest is being ill-served. These stories may involve state, local or national government, lobbyists or the press itself wherever there exists that "atmosphere of easy tolerance" that Worth Bingham himself once described in his reporting on the nation's capital. The investigative reporting may cover actual violations of the law, rule or code; lax or ineffective administration or enforcement; or activities which create conflicts of interest, entail excessive secrecy or otherwise raise questions of propriety. Submissions must have been published in a U.S. newspaper or magazine or on the newspaper or magazine’s Web site during the previous calendar year. Web-based news organizations that follow a strict code of journalistic ethics and publish original reporting on a regular basis may also submit entries. No broadcast-only entries are allowed. The prize is $20,000.

Deadline: Jan 21, 2026.