About The Awards

The Peter F. Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism recognize acts of journalism by student and professional journalists that meet the highest ethical standards in the face of pressure or incentives to do otherwise. The awards are administered by the Ethics and Journalism Initiative at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Founded in 2024, the awards are granted annually.

The Collier Award focuses both on the ethical process of reporting, alongside the quality of the published pieces. We care not only about what newsrooms publish, but how they got there, shining a light on the difficult ethical decisions, considerations, and questions in the pursuit of great journalism.

“The Collier Award is grounded in the belief that a greater focus on ethics—on rigorous, factual reporting, transparency, humility, and fairness—can help journalists become more effective and more trustworthy, and therefore more valuable to their audiences and to the broader community,” said Stephen J. Adler, Ethics and Journalism Initiative director.

Prizes

The Collier Awards recognize first-, second-, and third-place awardees in student, local, and national/international reporting categories. Awardees receive the following:

Student Reporting

A $5,000 award or scholarship for exemplary ethical journalism by a high school, undergraduate, or graduate student journalist ($500 for second place, $250 for third place)

Local Reporting

A $15,000 award for exemplary ethical journalism with local or regional impact or significance by a professional journalist or team ($2,500 for second place, $1,000 for third place)

National/International Reporting

A $15,000 award for exemplary ethical journalism with national or international impact or significance by a professional journalist or team ($2,500 for second place, $1,000 for third place)

The Collier Story

The Peter F. Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism are made possible through a generous gift from Nathan S. Collier, founder and chairman of the Collier Companies, in honor of his great-grand uncle, Peter F. Collier, who emigrated from Ireland in 1866, became a book publisher, and founded the renowned magazine, Collier’s Weekly, in 1888.

The award’s panel of judges is composed of eminent journalists from across the news media landscape: Dean Baquet, executive editor of the local investigations fellowship at the New York Times; Sewell Chan, senior fellow at USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy; Gina Chua, editor-at-large of Semafor and executive director of the Tow-Knight Center at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY; Lynette Clemetson, director of the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan; Adam Ganucheau, executive editor of Deep South Today; Lynn Novick, a documentary filmmaker whose works include Baseball (1994), The War (2007), and The Vietnam War (2017); Kerry Smith, senior vice president at ABC News; and Stephen D. Solomon, Marjorie Deane Professor of Journalism at the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.