WBA Newsroom
WTMJ TV 4, The Cap Times and the Wisconsin State Journal were the top finishers in the second annual Wisconsin A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism competition.
The award recognizes excellence in investigative reporting. Submissions were evaluated based on the core criteria of journalism quality, presentation quality, responsiveness to community needs, and impact.
Winners and the corresponding prizes include:
First Place: $5,000 for the journalist(s) and $2,500 to the news organization — For the entry “Housing Authority Accountability” by WTMJ 4 News and Chief Investigative Reporter Jenna Rae.
Judges’ comments: “This piece includes stories that aired between December 2024 and February 2025. Fantastic watchdog and accountability reporting! Kudos to the reporter! They attended public meetings, listened closely to HACM residents’ and employees’ concerns, visited the apartments themselves, and persistently sought answers from the HACM executive director and the mayor. The work shows strong use of reports, lawsuit documents and open records requests, demonstrating a thorough and determined investigative effort. The reporting struck a chord and incited community outcry, and had the mayor finally respond. Yet they say their work isn’t done yet as they seek more answers.”
Second Place: $3,000 for the journalist(s) and $1,500 to the news organization — For the entry “High-speed police chases,” by The Cap Times and Reporter Danielle DuClos.
Judges’ comments: “This was fantastic, rigorous reporting with real community impact, strong sourcing and powerful storytelling. From cleaning and analyzing a massive, disorganized dataset to comparing pursuit policies, interviewing experts and humanizing the issue through deeply emotional firsthand accounts. It includes diverse, credible sources, multimedia evidence and strong narrative clarity. Most importantly, it produced tangible impact in the community, prompting public discussion, scrutiny of police leaders, new citizen watchdog efforts and even anonymous confirmation from within law enforcement about cultural problems. The paper trail is there, and using this accident to highlight a bigger problem of risky high-speed chases is solid work. Kudos to the reporter!”
Third Place: $2,000 for the journalist(s) and $1,000 to the news organization — For the entry “Shattered Dreams,” by the Wisconsin State Journal and Reporters Todd Milewski and Jim Polzin.
Judges’ comments: “Excellent reporting! By following whispers, reviewing emails and documents, and conducting hours of interviews, the reporters went far beyond surface-level coverage to give these women a voice.”
About A-Mark
The A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism is open to all journalists and all news organizations in Wisconsin. The A-Mark Foundation is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in 1997.
A-Mark is dedicated to supporting and encouraging journalism and investigative reporting through grants to organizations that offer awards recognizing journalistic excellence. One of A-Mark’s flagship initiatives is the A-Mark Prizes program, which recognizes and rewards the best investigative journalism in each state.