Mirror Awards

The Mirror Awards are annual journalism awards recognizing the work of writers, reporters, editors and organizations who cover the media industry. The awards were established by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2006.

Awards categories have varied slightly from year to year. Since 2018, categories included: • Best Single Article/Story • Best Profile • Best Commentary • John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting

Special topic categories reflecting the major news stories of the previous year have also been added each year since 2018.

John M. Higgins Award
The John M. Higgins Award for Best In-Depth/Enterprise Reporting was established by the Newhouse School in December 2011 to honor the late Broadcasting & Cable business editor, who died in 2006. The award is supported by a financial gift from Discovery Communications and Time Warner Cable and carries a $5,000 cash prize. Each of the remaining awards carries a $1,000 cash prize.

Nominations & Judging
Nominations for the Mirror Awards are made online each year beginning in December. The competition is open to anyone who conducts reporting, commentary or criticism of the media industries. Eligible work includes print, broadcast and online editorial content focusing on the development or distribution of news and entertainment. Entries are evaluated based on excellence of craft, framing of the issue and appropriateness for the intended audience. Winners are chosen by a group of journalists and journalism educators.

Awards Ceremony
Winners are honored at an awards ceremony in New York City each June. Ceremony emcees have included Meredith Vieira (2007); Andy Borowitz (2008); Newhouse alumna Contessa Brewer '96 (2009); Katie Couric (2010); Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski (2011); Anderson Cooper (2012); David Muir (2013); Gayle King (2014); Savannah Guthrie (2015); Newhouse alumnus Jeff Glor '97 (2016); Jenna Bush Hager (2017); Kimberly Brooks (2018); Alisyn Camerota (2019); Michelle Marsh (2021), and Contessa Brewer (2022).

Award Winners
2007  Clive Thompson, New York magazine Philip Weiss, New York Magazine David Carr, The New York Times Dean Miller, Nieman Reports Andreas Kluth, The Economist HealthNewsReview.org, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication American Journalism Review

2008  Frontline, PBS The New York Times: Monday Media section Ken Auletta, The New Yorker Jeff Coplon, New York Magazine Joe Nocera, The New York Times

2009 David Carr, The New York Times David Barstow, The New York Times David Kamp, Vanity Fair Seth Mnookin, Vanity Fair Ian Parker, The New Yorker Clive Thompson, Wired.com

2010  Steven Johnson, TIME Megan Garber, Columbia Journalism Review Evan Osnos, The New Yorker Matt Pressman, Vanity Fair Nancy Jo Sales, Vanity Fair Dean Starkman, Columbia Journalism Review Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair

2011   Eric Alterman, Center for American Progress Ken Auletta, The New Yorker Jim Hopkins, Gannett Blog Joel Meares, Columbia Journalism Review Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine Mary Van de Kamp Nohl, Milwaukee Magazine James Wolcott, Vanity Fair

2012  Adam Lashinsky, Fortune Ken Auletta, The New Yorker Anna Holmes, The New York Times & The Washington Post Peter Maass, The New Yorker & ProPublica Joe Pompeo, Capital New York Rhonda Roland Shearer and Malik Ayub Sumbal, iMediaEthics Rebecca Traister, Salon (website) and The New York Times Magazine

2013  Adrian Chen, Gawker Missouri Press Association Craig Silverman, Poynter Institute Syed Irfan Ashraf, Dawn, Pique Joe Eskenazi, San Francisco Weekly Ken Auletta, The New Yorker Jodi Enda, American Journalism Review

2014  Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker Erik Wemple, The Washington Post Brooke Gladstone, Katya Rogers, Alex Goldman, PJ Vogt, Sarah Abdurrahman, Chris Neary, On the Media Michael Specter, The New Yorker Michael Meyer, Columbia Journalism Review Jina Moore Salon (website), Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic Frank Greve, CQ Researcher

2015  Yang Xiao, Nieman Reports Benjamin Wallace, New York magazine Anna Griffin, Nieman Reports Amanda Hess, Pacific Standard Bob Garfield, Katya Rogers, On the Media Bryan Burrough, Sarah Ellison, Suzanna Andrews, Vanity Fair

2016 Peter Elkind, Fortune (magazine) Celeste LeCompte, Nieman Reports Matthew Billy, Between the Liner Notes Taffy Brodesser-Akner, GQ Frank Rich, New York (magazine) Jonathan Mahler, The New York Times Magazine

2017 Sarah Esther Maslin, Columbia Journalism Review Soraya Chemaly and Catherine Buni, The Verge Eric Alterman, The Nation Gabriel Sherman, New York (magazine)

2018 Lois Parshley, Pacific Standard Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times Magazine Jack Shafer and Tucker Doherty, Politico Amanda Robb, Center for Investigative Reporting, PRX, and Rolling Stone Irin Carmon and Amy Brittain, The Washington Post Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, Rachel Abrams, Ellen Gabler, Susan Dominus, Jim Rutenberg and Steve Eder, The New York Times

2019 Jesse Brenneman and Lois Beckett, WNYC Radio and Guardian US Tim Alberta, Politico Sarah Jones, Columbia Journalism Review Davey Alba, BuzzFeed News Miles O’Brien and Cameron Hickey, for PBS NewsHour Ryan Mac, Charlie Warzel, Alex Kantrowitz, Pranav Dixit, Megha Rajagopalan, and Aisha Nazim for Facebook, BuzzFeed News Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker

2020 Jane Mayer, The New Yorker Molly Langmuir, Elle Jenni Monet, Columbia Journalism Review and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project Molly Webster and Bethel Habte, Radiolab/WNYC Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post Brent Cunningham, Pacific Standard

2021 Lauren Markham, Columbia Journalism Review Issac J. Bailey, Nieman Reports Charles Bethea, The New Yorker Micah Loewinger, Hampton Stall, Brooke Gladstone and Katya Rogers, On the Media /WNYC Studios Lynsey Chutel, Lauren Harris, Linda Kinstler, Tony Lin, Zainab Sultan and Stephania Taladrid, Columbia Journalism Review Casey Quackenbush, Nieman Reports

2022 Janell Ross, TIME Jaeah Lee, Columbia Journalism Review Alexandria Neason, Columbia Journalism Review Robert Mackey, The Intercept Jen Wieczner, Fortune Sheera Frenkel and Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times

Special awards
The awards ceremony also includes the presentation of two special awards: the Fred Dressler Leadership Award, named for the late cable executive and former chair of the Newhouse Advisory Board, which is given to individuals or organizations that have made distinct, consistent and unique contributions to the public’s understanding of the media; and the i-3 award for impact, innovation and influence, which is given to individuals or organizations that have made a profound impact on the media landscape or have captured the public’s imagination about the potential or importance of the media in a unique way. Recipients of the Dressler Award have included Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times; Jorge Ramos of Noticias Univision (2021); Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide and chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports (2019); Sheila Nevins of HBO Documentary Films (2018); journalist Tom Brokaw (2017); David Levy ’84, president of Turner Broadcasting System (2016); Josh Sapan, president and CEO of AMC Networks (2015); David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications (2014); Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group (2013); Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast (2011); Bloomberg L.P. (2010); Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post (2009); political journalist Tim Russert (posthumously, 2008); and Peter Bart, editor-in-chief of Variety (2007). Recipients of the i-3 award have included Twitch (service) (2019); NPR (2018); The New York Times Company (2017); Nonny de la Peña (2016); David Carr (journalist) (posthumously, 2015); Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg (2014); Nate Silver (2013); John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (2012); Newhouse alumnus Dennis Crowley ’98 and Naveen Selvadurai, co-founders of Foursquare (2011); Twitter (2010); Obama for America New Media Department/Blue State Digital (2009); and CNN/YouTube (2008).

In 2021, the Newhouse School announced the establishment of the Lorraine Branham IDEA Award, named for the school's late dean, to recognize a media organization that has worked to promote inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility over the course of the previous year. Brown Girls Doc Mafia was the inaugural recipient. In 2022, The 19th News won the award.