Thomas Novelly awarded prize by Military Reporters & Editors
WASHINGTON — During its annual conference for journalists, Military Reporters & Editors presented awards to the winners of the 2025 MRE Journalism Contest. Thomas Novelly garnered MRE’s Best Enterprise/Feature Reporting (Division 2) award for series in Military.com.
Award Summary
Two-part series on exposure to toxic chemicals by military service members working with missiles, Military.com, published 3/7/2024 and 5/30/2024.
Prize Category: Best Enterprise-Feature Reporting / Division 2, Text journalism published in traditional print or online media.
Best work on a single topic containing numerous voices, creativity, and sources of information/data, or focused reporting that provides deeper context into a subject, in contrast to a typical news story, published by news organization with fewer than 20 reporters.
Judges’ Comments:
Military.com’s Thomas Novelly expertly tells the story of the prevalence of cancers among America’s missileers and the service men and women who maintained the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. His story includes gripping details of exposures to toxic chemicals such as sodium chromate, which can increase risks for lung cancer and other cancers: “A viscous and toxic liquid, the consistency and neon yellow-green tint of Mountain Dew soda, began leaking and started to slowly run into her gloves and seep through her shirt.”
Read the Winning Series
- Article 1: They Stood Sentry over America’s Nuclear Missile Arsenal. Many Worry It Gave Them Cancer, Military.com (3/7/2024)
- Article 2: Unprotected: Troops Spent Decades Elbow-Deep in Dangerous Chemicals to Keep Nuclear Missiles Working, Military.com (5/30/2024)
Journalist Biography
Thomas Novelly
Thomas Novelly is a reporter for Military.com, where he specializes in coverage of issues that directly impact 700,000 airmen and Guardians and their families. His work ranges from investigations into cancer and health concerns among service members who protect America’s nuclear missiles to safety issues with the military’s Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, as well as features into marginalized communities and profiles of Department of the Air Force leadership.
For nearly a decade, he has covered military communities and federal politics across the country from the Mile High City in Colorado to the Lowcountry of South Carolina and beyond. He previously was the military and politics reporter for the Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston.
He won best breaking news story from the Society of Professional Journalists Louisville Pro Chapter in 2018 for reporting on the FBI’s investigation of the University of Louisville basketball team. In 2021, he was part of a team of reporters named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a series titled “Rising Water,” which examined widespread climate issues and flooding across Charleston. In 2024, he was a Pulitzer Center grantee who investigated health concerns among America’s missileers.