The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting

Photo of the presentation of the Selden Ring Award at USC Annenberg

Now more than ever, rigorous, ethical and technically skilled journalists are needed to hold those in power accountable and tell stories that matter.

The impact of their work strengthens our democratic society — and demonstrates the value of accountability for governments, non-government organizations and private corporations. 

Since 1989, the Ring Foundation has partnered with the USC Annenberg School of Journalism to present the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. The $50,000 annual award — the largest journalism prize in America — was established with the support of Southern California businessman and philanthropist Selden Ring. It highlights the impact investigative journalists have on local, national and global communities.

Submit Nomination

Nominations due January 13, 2023.

Information on Selden Ring

black and white photo of Nigerian women and children scared in back of truck as men walk around guarding

2023 Selden Ring Winner

When Reuters correspondent Paul Carsten was speaking with a human rights contact about military abuses against civilians in Nigeria’s northeast site of a brutal war against Islamist insurgents, he hit upon what would prove to be an extraordinary story.

Carsten — joined by reporters David Lewis, Reade Levinson and Libby George — painstakingly assembled evidence of the army's years-long mass, secret abortion program, forcing the termination of thousands of pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been abducted and raped by militants. Even children as young as a few months old were being targeted for death.

For their project “Nightmare in Nigeria,” the Reuters team has earned the 2023 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.

Previous winners

ProPublica team wins 2022 Selden Ring Award for series exposing how the wealthiest Americans avoid paying income tax

ProPublica journalists found unprecedented data that showed how some of the richest people in America take advantage of the tax code to avoid paying even a single dollar in income taxes in some years.

Associated Press reporters Margie Mason and Robin McDowell win 2021 Selden Ring Award

Examining the working conditions on palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, Mason and McDowell’s “Fruits of Labor,” exposed shocking abuses against some of the world’s most vulnerable laborers.

See all previous winners

Explore all past Selden Ring winners and their award-winning projects.