Reuters, NJ Advance Media Win 2025 Toner Prizes for Excellence in Political Reporting

Reuters won the 2025 Toner Prize for national political reporting for comprehensive stories published as part of the news organization’s “Politics of Menace” special report during the presidential campaign.

NJ Advance Media earned the 2025 Toner Prize for local political reporting.

The winners of the annual  Toner Prizes for Excellence in Political Reporting  were announced March 6 by the  S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The honors will be formally presented March 24 at the Toner Prizes Celebration in Washington, D.C.

Awarded annually by the Newhouse School, the Toner Prizes recognize the best political reporting of the past year. They are named after Robin Toner ’76, the first woman to hold the position of national political correspondent for The New York Times.

In addition to the winners, Politico took an honorable mention in the national political reporting category.

The judges were:

• Christina Bellantoni, journalism professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, columnist and former editor-in-chief at Roll Call.

• Ann Compton, Emmy Award-winning retired reporter for ABC News and the first woman to cover the White House for network television.

• Lucy Dalglish, professor and dean emeritus at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; attorney and former reporter and editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

• Beverly Kirk, director of Washington programs and professor of practice of broadcast and digital journalism at the Newhouse School, with more than two decades of experience in journalism working at national and local outlets.

• Rick Rodriguez, professor of the Southwest Borderlands Initiative at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and former executive editor and senior vice president of The Sacramento Bee.

• Maralee Schwartz, retired political editor of The Washington Post and contributing editor at Columbia Journalism Review.

• Joseph B. Treaster, professor at the University of Miami School of Communication; prize-winning reporter who spent more than three decades as a reporter and foreign correspondent  at The New York Times.

Toner Prize for Excellence in National Political Reporting 

Winner: Reuters

Reporters: Peter Eisler, Ned Parker, Aram Roston and Joseph Tanfani

Entry: “The Politics of Menace”

• “Trump blasts his trial judges. Then his fans call for violence.”

• “The Proud Boys are back: How the far-right group is rebuilding to rally behind Trump”

• “How Trump’s intimidation tactics have reshaped the Republican Party”
• “Trump fan targets MAGA foes with menace – and gets away with it”

Judges’ Comments 

“Breathtaking reporting … explains not just the actions, the impact, but also the grievances that empower.” _Schwartz

“Well-documented catalogue of threats, their impact, the growth of combative political forces and the ferocity of cultural clashes.” _Compton

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Honorable Mention: Politico

Reporters: Jessie Blaeser, Kelsey Tamborrino, Benjamin Storrow, Zack Colman, David Ferris, Timothy Cama and Christine Mui

Entry: “Biden’s Billions”

• “Biden Trillion Dollar Spending Tracker”

• “‘I don’t know how this happened’: A $3B secret program undermining Biden’s tech policy”

• “Trump vs. Biden’s historic climate agenda”

• “What has Biden wrought?”

Judges’ Comments

“This is an important story that documents the success and failures of the Biden agenda.” _Dalglish

“Meticulous, dogged reporting inside every agency and delivered one well-written narrative after another. This is the kind of accountability and investigative work I like teaching my students.” _Bellantoni

“Politico looked almost step by step into an enormous plan.” _Treaster

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Finalists

• ProPublica with Wisconsin Watch, Documented and The New York Times Magazine: “Investigating the Christian Right’s efforts to influence elections,” Andy Kroll, Ava Kofman, Phoebe Petrovic and Nick Surgey

• NBC News: ”The disinformation machine: How falsehoods shaped American politics,” Brandy Zadrozny

• The Boston Globe: “Vibe Check,” Emma Platoff, Sam Brodey and Jim Puzzanghera

• The Atlantic: “Inside the Trump Campaign,” Tim Alberta

Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Political Reporting

Winner: NJ Advance Media

Reporters: Spencer Kent and Riley Yates

Entry: “Project Extreme”

• “Inside the Mainstreaming of Hate. How Toxic Influencers are Pushing N.J. Politics to the Far Right”

• “Looking over their shoulder” (subscription required)

• “A war for hearts & minds” (subscription required)

• “Civil war”  (subscription required)

Judges’ Comments

“The storytelling and reporting here was riveting and courageous …  The writing was so clear I couldn’t stop reading.” _Rodriguez

“An excellent examination of the different forms of extremism, the people affected by it and the threat it presents to democracy.” _Kirk

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Finalists

• The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and Votebeat:  “Noncitizen Voting,” Vianna Davila, Lexi Churchill, James Barragán and Natalia Contreras

• The Boston Globe: “State Secrets,” Laura Crimaldi, Samantha J. Gross, Emma Platoff and Matt Stout

• Chicago Tribune:  “Culture of Corruption,” Ray Long, Rick Pearson, Gregory Royal Pratt, Dan Petrella, Joe Mahr, Rick Kogan and Kori Rumore

• Santa Cruz Local:  “Santa Cruz Local’s Election Guide,” Jesse Kathan, Nik Altenberg, Stephen Baxter, Jay Leedy, Tyler Maldonado, Jesse Greenspan, Samantha Lim, Jessica Zimmer, Fidel M. Soto, Corinne Kappeler and Kara Meyberg Guzman

• Houston Chronicle: “How Gov. Greg Abbott made the Texas border America’s problem,” Benjamin Wermund and Matt Zdun

• The Texas Tribune: “A Texas Supreme Court justice’s disregard for ethics rules,” Robert Downen

About the Toner Prizes

First presented in 2011, the Toner Prizes for Excellence in Political Reporting highlight and reinforce quality, fact-based political reporting—work that illuminates the electoral process, reveals the politics of policy and engages the public in democracy.

They are named after Robin Toner, who covered five presidential campaigns, scores of Congressional and gubernatorial races and most of the country’s major political figures during her nearly 25-year career at The New York Times. A 1976 graduate of Syracuse University, Toner earned a bachelor’s degree as a dual major in journalism from the Newhouse School and political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Toner died in 2008, leaving a husband and two young children. To honor her legacy, family and friends established the Toner Program in Political Reporting at the Newhouse School.