The Marshall Challenge, together with St. Louis Public Radio and APM Reviews, has been honored with a 2025 Sunshine Award from the Society of Skilled Journalists. The award acknowledges contributions to open authorities and transparency.
The successful undertaking — “Unsolved” — was led by reporters Rachel Lippmann (St. Louis Public Radio), Tom Scheck (APM Reviews), Jennifer Lu (APM Reviews), Brian Munoz (St. Louis Public Radio), and Alysia Santo (The Marshall Challenge). The staff performed a years-long investigation into why the St. Louis police division has struggled to resolve homicides.
“This honor acknowledges the tenacity of those reporting groups, and the ability of collaboration,” mentioned Geraldine Sealey, performing Editor-in-Chief of The Marshall Challenge. “We’re grateful to the judges, in addition to to our media companions and collaborators, for serving to to shine a light-weight on the deep, searing neighborhood impacts of unsolved homicides and their victims.”
The multipart investigation explored why, all through a decade in St. Louis, 1,000 homicides went unsolved — and the way employees shortages, shoddy detective work and lack of neighborhood belief have hindered the division’s skill to resolve these circumstances and produce closure to family members.
By persistent information requests, litigation, and meticulous information evaluation, the reporters uncovered systemic failures in murder investigations and racial disparities in clearance charges. Their work not solely held police accountable but in addition made vital information publicly accessible for the primary time in years.
The “Unsolved” sequence included 5 digital tales, 4 radio items, a photograph essay, and a video section for The Marshall Challenge’s Inside Story. The investigation revealed that, over a decade, detectives solved lower than half of town’s homicides and disproportionately cleared circumstances involving White victims. The reporting additionally uncovered deep issues contained in the murder division, together with staffing shortages, turnover, and tolerance of detectives with troubling monitor information.
The award is given yearly by SPJ to people and organizations for “making necessary contributions within the space of open authorities.” Learn extra from SPJ right here.
The sequence has beforehand received quite a lot of awards, together with the Brechner Freedom of Info Award, Journalism Collaboration of the 12 months from the Institute for Nonprofit Information, and the Excellence in Collaboration award from the On-line Information Affiliation.
You possibly can learn the total “Unsolved” investigation right here.
