Covering Climate Now is excited to announce the winners of the 2023 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards, which are rapidly becoming the industry standard of excellence in climate journalism. More than 100 distinguished journalists from around the world chose the 2023 winners from nearly 1,100 entries submitted by colleagues in 29 countries.
This year the judges selected three Journalists of the Year for extraordinary and growing bodies of work. They are: Manka Behl, who reports for The Times of India from the frontlines of the crisis in one of the world’s most climate-important countries; Damian Carrington, whose science-based reporting for the Guardian explains that politics and corporate power, not a lack of green technologies, are what block climate progress; and Amy Westervelt, whose prolific, multi-platform reporting for Critical Frequency exposes how fossil fuel companies continue to mislead the public and policymakers alike.
“Every news outlet on earth can learn from the engaged, hard-hitting journalism that Manka, Damian, and Amy bring to the climate story,” said Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of Covering Climate Now. “It’s reporting like this that arms the public with the power that knowledge gives.”
CCNow’s Journalism Awards recognized six Special Honors Winners this year — whose work has appeared on PBS’s Frontline, Bloomberg, VICE News, ProPublica/New York Times, Deutsche Welle, and Al Jazeera English — for rigorous investigative reports, eye-opening exposes of climate injustice, and much-needed analyses of climate solutions.
“Audiences need to know not only that the planet is on fire but why that’s happening and what can be done about it,” said Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review and chair of the CCNow Journalism Awards judging committee. “This year’s winners exemplify the best in public-spirited journalism.”
Additional winners include large outlets like Hearst Television, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Agence France Press, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as smaller enterprises such as Indian nonprofit Scroll.in, whose Ishan Kukreti won in the Long-Form Writing category. Author Naomi Klein won in the Commentary category, while TBS Seoul, in South Korea, took the prize for best documentary.