Since 2011, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has received accolades that include a first-place national award from the Society of Professional Journalists, a national award for collaborations with college students from The Associated Press Media Editors, two Golden Gavel Awards from the State Bar of Wisconsin, acceptance of its first documentary, Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers) to screenings at a dozen film festivals nationwide, a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Los Lecheros, and 88 awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

The Center also has received three finalist citations in the student category from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, and recognition from the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and Dane County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Browse the list below for a full accounting of honors earned by the Center, and links to the award-winning work.

• 2020 •

Milwaukee Press Club

Wisconsin Watch earns 11 awards, including 4 gold, for 2019 coverage

WisconsinWatch.org

Best public service story or series (Gold)
Beyond Bail

Best multi-story coverage of a single feature topic or event (Gold)
Massive Wisconsin solar proposal splits farmers and clean energy fans
Proposal for 24 wind turbines whips up controversy in rural Wisconsin
Solar flare-up: Utility blocks Iowa firm from harnessing the sun in Milwaukee

Best hard feature story (Gold)
While millions are spent to fight the opioid epidemic, a meth crisis quietly grows in Wisconsin

Best consumer story or series (Silver)
Catholics run one-third of Wisconsin hospitals, putting many reproductive procedures off-limits
Catholic hospitals often only choice for women of color in Milwaukee
When Catholic hospitals merge, reproductive services can change

Best illustration or cartoon (Silver)
Fainting and freezing in the fields: Alleged labor trafficking victim tells of mistreatment in Wisconsin and Georgia

Best investigative story or series (Silver)
Property owners near Foxconn say they were misled. Now their homes are gone.

Best use of multi-platform reporting (Silver)
Fainting and freezing in the fields: Alleged labor trafficking victim tells of mistreatment in Wisconsin and Georgia

Best feature photograph (Bronze)

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch

Marigeli Roman lies down with her son Adriel, 2, and husband, Erick Gamboa, while watching a movie in their Milwaukee home on February 8, 2019. Erick Gamboa spent six months in immigration detention which was a major hardship on the family. Says Roman: It moves your world in so many ways: emotionally, mentally, physically, financially.

Best long hard feature story (Bronze)
Fainting And Freezing In The Fields: Alleged Labor Trafficking Victim Tells Of Mistreatment In Wisconsin, Georgia

Best explanatory story or series (Bronze)
Catholic Clergy Abuse

• 2019 •

Milwaukee Press Club

Wisconsin Watch wins eight golds in 2019 Milwaukee Press Club contest

Countering Concussions

Best Investigative Story or Series — Online (Gold)
Wisconsin doubles GPS monitoring despite five years of malfunctions, unnecessary jailings

Best Public Service Story or Series (Gold)
How hackers could attack Wisconsin’s elections and what state officials are doing about it

Best Public Service Story or Series — Online (Gold)
Wisconsin to force parents to work for FoodShare, despite doubts about effectiveness

Best Consumer Story or Series (Gold)
Some people repeatedly win the Wisconsin Lottery. Do they play fair?

Best Explanatory Story or Series — Online (Gold)
Long-time judge: Some ‘independent’ doctors routinely rule against injured workers

Best Use of Multi-Platform Reporting (Gold)
Former DNR employee: Staff pressured to OK Kohler golf course on rare Wisconsin wetlands and state park

Best Business Story or Series — Online (Gold)
Asian restaurants and Chicago employment agencies accused of exploiting Latino workers in Midwest

Best Documentary (Silver)
Los Lecheros, Dairy Farmers

Best Photo Essay or Series (Silver)
Photo essay: Wisconsin’s frenetic lame duck session

Best Explanatory Story or Series — Online (Silver)
CWD spreads on deer and elk farms as Wisconsin’s control efforts stumble

Best News Photograph (Silver)

Emily Hamer / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

During the public hearing on the lame-duck bills Dec. 3, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, members of the public bang on the doors and chant to be let into the hearing room. Police secured the doors, trying to control the crowd. This photo won an award from the Milwaukee Press Club for Best News Photograph.

Best Long Hard Feature Story — Audio (Silver)
What Hiring Independent Medical Examiners Means For Injured Workers

Best Short Hard Feature Story — Audio (Bronze)
CWD Spreads On Deer And Elk Farms As Wisconsin’s Control Efforts Stumble

Best Feature Photograph (Bronze)

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Eve Clark, 10, is nuzzled by a calf during feeding time at Vision-Aire Farms. Also pictured is her cousin, Addison Grade, 7. Eve, along with her siblings and cousins, regularly take care of the animals and other chores around the farm. This photo won an award from the Milwaukee Press Club for Best Feature Photograph.

The Center also contributed to Madison Magazine’s silver award winning story in the public service category: Facing the truth behind the statistics of sexual assault.

• 2018 •

Radio Television Digital News Association

Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers) documentary in collaboration with Twelve Letter Films

The State Bar of Wisconsin

Flawed FBI Analysis Leads to Wrongful Conviction

Award of Commendation
Wisconsin/US Used Flawed Hair Evidence to Convict Innocent People

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

The case against Richard Beranek, 58, is among 13 in Wisconsin which the FBI acknowledges it used flawed microscopic hair comparison. The Center's coverage of the FBI's flawed techniques won it a Golden Gavel award from the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Press Club

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Wisconsin Public Radio honored with 14 awards

Wisconsin misses chances to cut risk of lead exposure in drinking water

Best Explanatory Story or Series (Gold)
State of Change: Water, Food And The Future Of Wisconsin

Best Investigative Story or Series (Gold)
Flawed Forensics

Best Investigative Report — Audio (Gold)
Wisconsin, US Used Flawed Hair Evidence To Convict Innocent People

Best Long Hard Feature Story — Audio (Gold)
Controversial Proud Boys Embrace ‘Western Values,’ Reject Feminism And Political Correctness

Best Series Reporting — Audio (Silver)
Under Trump, Wisconsin Dairies Struggle To Keep Immigrant Workers

Best Use of Multi-Platform Reporting (Silver)
Wisconsin inmates report despair, little counseling in solitary confinement that can stretch on for years

Emily Shullaw for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Some of the harshest treatment in solitary is reserved for inmates who want to kill themselves. Confined in a cell with a bed made of a concrete and steel slab with a thin rubber mat, the prisoner wears only a a paper security gown or a quilted security smock. This image won a silver award for Best Illustration and also appeared as part of Center's coverage on solitary confinement which won silver for Best Use of Multi-Platform Reporting.

Best Coverage of a Single News Topic of Event Including Breaking News (Silver)
Fecal microbes found in 60 percent of sampled wells, raising concerns about dairy manure, septic waste

Best Multi-Story Coverage of a Single Feature Topic or Event (Silver)
Documenting Hate

Best Investigative Story or Series — Online (Silver)
DNA tests in Wisconsin murder raise questions amid alleged evidence tampering

Best Feature Photograph (Silver)
Undocumented on the Dairy

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Guillermo Ramos vaccinates dairy cows in the freestall barn of a dairy farm in northern Buffalo County, Wis. on March 8, 2017. The 40-year-old, Mexican-born farm manager has worked on the farm for almost 20 years. This photo won a silver award for Best Feature Photograph and appeared as part of State of Change, which won gold for Best Explanatory Story or Series.

Best News Photograph (Silver)
Scott Walker’s Wink

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Gov. Scott Walker is seen at the State of the State address on Jan. 10. This photo won a silver award for Best News Photograph, and was published as part of Broken Whistle, which won gold for Best Public Service Story or Series.

Best Illustration or Cartoon (Silver)
Stuck in Solitary

Best Public Service Story or Series – Online (Bronze)
Broken Whistle

Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers) was co-produced by the Center and Twelve Letter Films.

Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers)

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Twelve Letter Films debut documentary on immigrant dairy worker tensions

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Twelve Letter Films produced a documentary, “Los Lecheros” (Dairy Farmers), which explores rising tensions over undocumented dairy workers since the election of President Trump.

It has been accepted into the following film festivals:

• 2017 •

The Society of Professional Journalists

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism wins top national award for drinking water project

Failure at the Faucet

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism receives Conservation in Action Award for investigation of risks to state’s drinking water

Failure at the Faucet

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Jacob Reeves, pictured at home in Stoughton, was diagnosed in 2014 with juvenile dermatomyositis — a rare disease that his mother Dawn attributes to the high level of atrazine found in their well water. Jacob's story was featured in the Failure in the Faucet series which won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists, The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and the Milwaukee Press Club.

Milwaukee Press Club

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism wins three golds, other honors from Milwaukee Press Club

Best investigative story or series (Gold)
Failure at the Faucet

Best investigative story or series – Online (Gold)
Costs of widely prescribed drugs jumped up to 5,241 percent in recent years, joint investigation shows

Best investigative report – Audio (Gold)
No Relief From Wisconsin’s 565-Percent Payday Loan Interest Under New Rules

Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

In the summer of 2015, Sandra Goodwin was sued by a debt buyer she had never heard of. The stories she was featured in won Best Investigative Story or Series, Best Investigative Audio Report and Best Use of Multi-Platform Reporting.

Best Investigative Report — Audio (Silver)
• Lead Contamination Remains Major Issue In Wisconsin’s Drinking Water
• Despite Danger, Lead Often Comes Out Of Wisconsin Taps Undetected
• Wisconsin Launches Effort To Replace Aging Lead Pipes To Safeguard Drinking Water

Best Multi-Story Coverage of a Single Feature Topic or Event (Silver)
Focus on traumatic childhood helps victims heal and succeed

Best use of multimedia (Silver)
Critics: State’s plan to save bees provides little protection from pesticides

Best public service story or series (Bronze)
• Strong public support, pleas from grieving family fail to move Wisconsin on gun background checks
• Background checks, dealer licensing requirements in Wisconsin explained
• Instructor: Background checks OK but do not keep weapons from criminals

Best Use of Multi-Platform Reporting (Bronze)
• Controversial debt buyers get a break under new Wisconsin law
• Controversial Debt Buyers Get A Break Under New Wisconsin Law (audio version)

• 2016 •

The State Bar of Wisconsin

WCIJ takes top honors in State Bar of Wisconsin’s Golden Gavel Awards

Cruel and Unusual?

Wisconsin Department of Corrections

Inmates can spend years, even decades, in a cell like this one at Waupun Correctional Institution under so-called administrative confinement. This image was part of the Center's award-winning series Cruel and Unusual?

Milwaukee Press Club

WCIJ wins six gold, two bronze awards for journalistic excellence

Failure at the Faucet

Best public service story or series (Gold)
Precious Lives

This gif was one of twelve included in the Center's animated guide to Wisconsin's frac sand industry. The Center's frac sand coverage received an award for Best Use of Multimedia - Online from the Milwaukee Press Club.

Best use of multimedia – Online (Gold)
Sand tells the story of the frac sand rush

Best business story or series (Gold)
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp: What went wrong?

Best investigative report – Audio (Gold)
Nitrates Polluting 1 In 5 Private Wells in Wisconsin

Best series reporting – Audio (Gold)
Precious Lives

Best coverage of a single news topic or event including breaking news (Bronze)
Peeking Behind the Bars: Solitary confinement in Wisconsin

Best public service story or series (Bronze)
Gov. Walker’s stealth government

• 2015 •

Milwaukee Press Club

Center takes home seven awards, including best website design, from Milwaukee Press Club

Kewaunee County’s water woes

Best business story or series (Gold)
Frac-sand boom creates promise, problems for Wisconsin

Best use of multimedia (Gold)
Murky Waters – Madison’s quest for clean lakes

Mike DeVries / The Capital Times

A experimental boom surrounded Madison's B.B. Clarke beach in 2010 to keep out algae, though it ended up being closed June 24 for high E. coli levels. This photo was part of the award winning series Murky Waters.

Best website design (Gold)
WisconsinWatch.org

Best investigative story or series (Silver)
Cruel and Unusual?

Best investigative story or series (Bronze)
Confidential informants on college campuses

Best public service story or series (Bronze)
Controversial monkey experiment planned at UW-Madison

• 2014 •

Milwaukee Press Club

Milwaukee Press Club honors Center with eight awards

State passes up disabled aid despite backlogs

Best multi-story coverage of a single feature topic or event (Gold)
Water Watch Wisconsin

Kate Golden / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

The boat launch at Long Lake, near Plainfield, no longer reaches the water. In Wisconsin's Central Sands, some lakes and streams have lowered or dried up in recent years as the number of high-capacity wells has mushroomed, largely for irrigation. This photo was part of the award winning series Water Watch Wisconsin.

Best reporting of an ongoing news story – Audio (Gold)
Project: Wisconsin’s sand rush

Best background, analytical or interpretive story (Gold)
Supreme Court justices tend to favor attorney donors

Best use of multimedia (Gold)
Water Watch Wisconsin

Best documentary, investigative or public affairs story or series – Audio (Gold)
State passes up disabled aid despite backlogs

Best background, analytical or interpretive story (Silver)
In some choice schools, disabilities are liability

Best investigative story or series (Bronze)
Lost signal, disconnected lives

• 2013 •

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Center, UW-Madison journalism school share role in IRE honor

Gaps persist in campus mental health services

Milwaukee Press Club

Center wins gold, silver and bronze Milwaukee Press Club awards for coverage of key state issues

Rural Slide

Lukas Keapproth / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Storm clouds roll in on a rural farm off Highway 97 near Marshfield, Wis. on July 8, 2012. This photo was part of the award winning photo essay Rural Slide, which also won for Best Innovative Feature.

Best innovative feature (Gold)
The Walker Calendar Files

Best innovative feature (Silver)
Brownfields

Best investigative story or series (Silver)
Service Stigma: Disabled or not, veterans face job challenges

Best multi-story coverage of a single feature topic or event (Silver)
Gaps persist in campus mental health services

Best public service feature story (Silver)
Green schemes make activists see red

Best innovative feature (Bronze)
Rural Slide

Best news photograph (Bronze)
Walker Recall Kiss

A husband and wife share a kiss after Gov. Scott Walker is declared the winner at the Waukesha Expo Center in Waukesha, WI, June 5, 2012. Lukas Keapproth/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

• 2012 •

Associated Press Media Editors

UW-Madison investigative reporting collaboration honored in APME award

Innovator of the Year for College Students

Milwaukee Press Club

Center wins four awards, including top website, from Milwaukee Press Club

Emissions data for seven coal-firedpower plant

Best background, analytical or interpretive story (Gold)
Security After 9/11: 10 Years Later

Courtesy of Kimberly Prellwitz

A July 2009 fire at the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant blazed for days, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people and causing more than $200 million in damage. While many aspects of the response went well, significant problems also occurred, including failures to meet federal emergency response requirements. This photo was part of the award winning entry for Best background, analytical or interpretive story.

Best local news or feature website (Gold)
WisconsinWatch.org

Best coverage of a single news topic or event (Silver)
Walker emails

• 2011 •

Jacob Kushner / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Darlington, Wis., dairy owner James Winn says he relies on Latino immigrants to run his large farm. Hispanic workers are a crucial part of Wisconsin's signature dairy industry. This photo was part of the award winning series Dairyland Diversity.

Best investigative story or series (Gold)
‘Smart drug’ abuse rising on campuses

Best public service or public education feature story (Silver)
For-profit college accused of operating illegally in Wisconsin

Best business story or series (Silver)
How a polluter gets stimulus money — and avoids environmental review

Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center - Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Awards and honors

• 2020 •

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2019 •

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2018 •

Radio Television Digital News Association

The State Bar of Wisconsin

Milwaukee Press Club

Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers)

• 2017 •

The Society of Professional Journalists

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2016 •

The State Bar of Wisconsin

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2015 •

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2014 •

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2013 •

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2012 •

Associated Press Media Editors

Milwaukee Press Club

• 2011 •

Investigative Reporters and Editors

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Milwaukee Press Club