For the first time, three streaming services (Netflix, Max and Paramount+) have earned duPont-Columbia Awards, broadcasting’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, in a single year.
Columbia Journalism School announced the 16 winners of the 2025 duPonts on Wednesday night during a ceremony on the Upper Manhattan campus of the Ivy League university.
While the streamers led the list of notable newer winners, a number of duPont perennials, including Frontline, 60 Minutes, CNN and broadcast news networks did not make the cut this year.
Bill Whitaker, a correspondent with 60 Minutes and Steve Inskeep, NPR Morning Edition host, co-hosted the event, which unfolded as clouds formed over the media business in the early days of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. Prior to the ceremony, Trump appointee Brendan Carr, who chairs the Federal Communications Commission, on Wednesday revived complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC. The complaints had been dismissed by Jessica Rosenworcel, Carr’s Democratic predecessor, for being “at odds with the First Amendment.”
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Whitaker (and the recipients giving acceptance speeches) opted not to address the incoming White House administration directly or mention Trump by name. But Whitaker described the current moment as “a fraught time for journalism. With wars in Europe, the Middle East and host spots around the globe, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls this one of the deadliest periods for journalists in recent history. Here at home, powerful politicians call us ‘enemies of the people’ and more and more news consumers doubt our trustworthiness. Television news audiences and budgets have shrunk.”
He continued, “So, journalists, as we used to say way back in the 1970’s, ‘Keep on keeping on.’ Like the reporters, these public servants whose excellence we honor tonight, we have to keep digging, keep looking under rocks, keep shining light into the shadows, keep giving voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless. Keep reporting with honesty, integrity and facts. Our democracy requires it.”
Inskeep later added, “Some media broadcast for people who already care, who already buy a narrative. In a divided country, and a competitive environment, we build an audience when we get the story across to people who do not care yet. Many people don’t trust the media. And fellow journalists, respectfully: That’s good! It might be better if more people were skeptical of certain things they’re told. But we need to meet that challenge. To prove what we say…and to keep returning to the story, day after day, with an open mind. With tonight’s awards, we recommit to our right to do our job – for as long as we’re allowed to do it.”
Winners produced by streamers included docuseries Murder in Boston, from HBO | Max, Little Room Films & The Boston Globe, with a companion podcast from the Globe and HBO; documentary Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney from MTV Documentary Films and Paramount +; and Netflix-Lucernam Films documentary You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolfpack.
The topic of race in America was a topic for many honorees, with five Silver Batons awarded to journalists who re-examined the topic at various points in U.S. history. Those recognized projects included 40 Acres and a Lie from The Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones, Reveal & PRX; The Space Race from National Geographic Documentary Films, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Alegria Films & Cortés Filmworks; and The Wrong Man from KFOR, Oklahoma City and Ali Meyer. Birthing a Nation and Murder in Boston also center on race.
Among three audio winners were NPR for its coverage of the war in Gaza; ProPublica & On the Media WNYC Studios’ podcast series We Don’t Talk About Leonard, and We Regret to Inform You, co-produced with Reveal, and The Investigative Reporting Project at UC Berkeley.
First-time honorees included the non-profit journalism organization The Outlaw Ocean Project for its investigative series, China: The Superpower of Seafood, and Scripps News for its ongoing investigation Maine Shootings: Missed Warnings.
Vice News won a duPont for its online film Battleground Texas, and Songbird Studios & Imaginary Lane were honored for Porcelain War about the war in Ukraine.
Four local news outlets took home duPonts: WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 Nashville and Phil Williams, KFOR, Oklahoma City & Ali Meyer, KPRC-TV, Houston & Amy Davis and ABC10 KXTV, Sacramento & Andie Judson.
The duPont-Columbia Awards were founded in 1942. Since 1968, they have been administered by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A jury made up of industry veterans selected 30 finalists and 16 winners. The pool of entries includes traditional national and local news outlets from across the country, as well as streaming and entertainment outlets.
The 2025 duPont-Columbia jurors were Madhulika Sikka (Jury Chair), Nina Alvarez, David Bauder, Lee Kamlet, Mark Lukasiewicz, Geraldine Moriba, David Rummel, Robert Smith, and Betsy West.
The post Netflix, Max And Paramount+ Earn DuPont-Columbia Awards As Streaming Moves In On Traditional Broadcast News Turf appeared first on Deadline.
