The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is honoring The Marshall Project with its Catalyst Award, which honors journalists or organizations whose reporting has had a significant impact.
“It is an honor for The Marshall Project to be recognized with the Freedom of the Press Catalyst Award,” said Editor-In-Chief Jennifer Peter. “We strive with every reporting package, every piece of journalism to drive impact through our work across the country, keeping a keen eye on inequities within the justice system.”
The 2026 Freedom of the Press Awards will be held on Oct. 14 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. The event is co-chaired by James Attwood Jr., senior adviser at The Carlyle Group, and Steven R. Swartz, president and chief executive officer of Hearst.
“This year’s honorees demonstrate the powerful impact of reporting that is ethical, bold, and rigorous, and of the legal support that makes this kind of journalism possible,” said Reporters Committee Chairman Stephen J. Adler. “Each one has done extraordinary work to keep the public informed and hold people in power accountable — and our democracy is stronger for it.”
Since its launch in 2014, The Marshall Project’s award-winning work has been recognized with two Pulitzer Prizes: one, in 2021, for a yearlong investigation into the life-altering injuries caused by police dog bites, which was reported in collaboration with AL.com, IndyStar and the Invisible Institute, and another, in 2016, for reporting about a failed police investigation into the rape of an 18-year-old girl, which was reported in collaboration with ProPublica.
The newsroom’s journalism has also influenced policy and sparked reforms. This month, members of Congress cited The Marshall Project's coverage of the detention of babies and toddlers in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody during debates over $70 billion in new federal immigration enforcement funding. The newsroom’s reporting also helped inform a landmark Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in March that struck down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for certain felony murder convictions, potentially affecting hundreds of incarcerated people and those who could be charged in the future. In 2023, a Marshall Project investigation into rampant violence prompted the shutdown of the Special Management Unit at Thomson prison in Illinois. And just one day after The Marshall Project’s story of abuse by correctional officers at New York’s notorious Attica prison appeared on the front page of The New York Times, three guards at the center of the story pleaded guilty to misconduct.
The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice and immigration systems. The newsroom produces in-depth investigations about a wide range of issues, including policing, prison and jail conditions, capital punishment, and juvenile justice.