Top prizes awarded to 21 different news organizations.
Military Reporters and Editors is excited to announce the winners of its annual journalism contest. The 2025 winners represent the best work in print, radio, television, audio and digital. Journalists from 21 different outlets received awards, ranging from the Washington Post and Politico, to Stars and Stripes and The Hill.
W.J. Hennigan, with the New York Times, won the prestigious Joe Galloway Award. Hennigan is a New York Times Opinion correspondent covering the U.S. military and national security issues from Washington, D.C. His winning entry “The Brink” an in-depth, interactive stories examining two aspects of the growing nuclear threat environment and the arms race of the future.
Davis Winkie has been awarded the James Crawley Award for a series of pieces in Army Times which analyzed Army death records to learn that between 2019 and 2021, tank brigades experienced a suicide rate twice as high as the rest of the active duty force. The culprit: a high operational tempo away from home for training or deployments. Winkie is now an Atlanta- and DC-based reporter who covers the White House, nuclear threats and national security for USA TODAY.
This Military Reporters and Editors contest received a record number of entries. The awards will be presented at our annual conference on Nov. 7, in Washington, DC.
This year’s schedule includes former longtime CNN Pentagon Reporter Barbara Starr and former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. Among our panels is a discussion of press freedom in the challenging environment of new Pentagon restrictions; Efforts to stop the deportation of Afghans who worked with U.S. military; A foreign correspondent roundtable. It will also include an off the record session with public affairs officers from several branches.
A complete list of speakers will be posted on the Military Reporters and Editors website.
Again, congratulations to all of our winners.
MRE Board of Directors
2025 MRE Journalism Contest Winners
Joseph L. Galloway Award For Distinguished Journalism
“The Brink”
W.J. Hennigan, NY Times
James Crawley Award
Series on suicide investigation
Davis Winkie- Army Times
Audio Documentary
Ehtesab in Afghanistan: An app’s struggle to survive under the Taliban
Dina Temple-Raston, Sean Powers, Megan Detrie, Karen Duffin – Recorded Future News and PRX
Breaking News Reporting (Division 1)
Series on Pentagon leaks
Daniel Lippman and Jack Detsch – POLITICO
Breaking News Reporting (Division 2)
Former USS Howard CO was fired after ‘racially harassing comments’
Diana Stancy– Navy Times
Commentary/Opinion (Division 1)
Opinion articles
Joslin Joseph– The Hill
Commentary/Opinion (Division 2)
Opinion articles
Charlotte Clymer – Charlotte’s Web Thoughts
Commentary/Opinion Honorable Mention (Division 2)
Opinion articles
Jennifer Barnhill – Military.com
Commentary/Opinion Honorable Mention (Division 2)
Opinion articles
James Kitfield– The Dispatch CSPC, The Hill, Foreign Policy, Defense One
Enterprise/Feature Reporting (Division 1)
What’s to become of the keepsakes left at Arlington Cemetery?
Kelsey Baker – The Washington Post
Enterprise/Feature Reporting (Division 2)
Series on exposure to toxic chemicals maintaining missiles
Thomas Novelly – Military.com
Enterprise/Feature Reporting Honorable Mention (Division 2)
Syria’s Forgotten Island of Opposition
Charlie Clewis– Los Angeles Review of Books
Enterprise/Feature Reporting Honorable Mention (Division 2)
‘Proving your innocence’: Veterans fight to clear their names for military crimes they did not commit
Rose Thayer – Stars and Stripes
Enterprise/Feature Reporting Honorable Mention (Division 2)
Why the Navajo Nation is pushing to reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
Gabriel Pietrorazio – KJZZ
Investigative Reporting (Division 1)
Series on “Retrograde” documentary
Hope Hodge Seck and Manuel Roig-Franzia– The Washington Post
Investigative Reporting (Division 2)
Series on mold in military housing
René Kladzyk– Project on Government Oversight
Photojournalism
Dead Serious: Ukrainian Soldiers Watch Eastern Frontline in Pokrovsk Command Center
Katie Livingstone– Kyiv Post
Photojournalism Honorable Mention
Ceo Bauer
Phillip Walter Wellman – Stars and Stripes
Radio News (Division 1)
Ukraine’s Radio ROKS: heavy metal — and hackers — for brothers in arms
Dina Temple-Raston, Sean Powers, Megan Detrie, Karen Duffin – Recorded Future News and PRX
Radio News (Division 2)
Native Heroes Erased
Gabriel Pietrorazio – KJZZ
TV/Video Documentary (Division 1)
Doctors of Defense – InvestigateTV/Gray Media
Joce Sterman, Daniela Molina, Scotty Smith
TV/Video Documentary (Division 2)
Shadows of Fallujah / My Platoon’s Fight Through The Bloodiest Battle of The Iraq War
Thomas Brennan– The War Horse
TV/Video Documentary Honorable Mention (Division 1)
How This 5-Foot-4 Marine From The Philippines Survived Boot Camp
Graham Flanagan– Business Insider
TV/Video News (Division 2)
Veterans Voices: US Army’s first Black female prisoner of war recounts her horrifying Iraqi experience
Pat Simon – WJZY Queen City News
MRE | Military Reporters & Editors Mission
- Advance the public understanding of the military, national security, and homeland defense.
- Represent the interests of working journalists to the government and military.
- Assure journalists have access to places where the U.S. military and its allies operate.
- Provide resources, support. educational and networking opportunities for members, fostering excellence in journalism.
For more information, visit the MRE website at https://www.militaryreporters.org.