Beginning in 2018, Associated Press investigative reporters Margie Mason and Robin McDowell relentlessly examined the working conditions on palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. The result is a searing exposé that reveals shocking abuses against some of the world’s most vulnerable laborers — and then connects that mistreatment directly to a byproduct found in roughly half the items for sale in American supermarkets.

Emmanuel Martinez and Aaron Glantz of the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal have won the 2019 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their multi-part series “Kept Out,” which uncovered widespread discrimination in home lending throughout the United States

Mike Baker and Justin Mayo of the Seattle Times have won the 2018 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their series “Quantity of Care.”

Brian M. Rosenthal of the Houston Chronicle has won the 2017 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for his seven-part series revealing that Texas state educators systematically denied special education services to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities.

The Selden Ring Award underscores the critical importance of investigative journalism in today's society. The $35,000 prize recognizes published investigative reporting that has brought results. Full-time or freelance reporters working for a general circulation, United States newspaper, wire service, magazine or online publication are eligible for the $35,000 award. Editors, publishers,...

Their work prompted reforms and prosecutions — and the release of more than 2,000 people who had been held captive in horrific circumstances.

A new video from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism features a cross-section of leading editors, writers and executives discussing why investigative journalism is so vital and necessary — and what would happen if the field didn’t exist.