From Managing Editor Krissah Thompson:
We are excited to share that “Broken Doors,” the audio series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca, has won this year’s John Jay/Frank Guggenheim Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting in the series category. The awards committee noted that in what was an especially competitive field of submissions, “Broken Doors” is “an example of the kind of closely reported, high-impact journalism we are so proud to honor.”
This is the latest recognition for the eye-opening and consequential project, in which riveting audio recordings showed how easily law enforcement can obtain no-knock warrants and how such raids can forever alter people’s lives. Earlier this year, Broken Doors was named the best crime and justice podcast by the Webby Awards, won the 2023 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the radio category and was a Pulitzer finalist for audio reporting.
Broken Doors launched in April 2022. After its release, a Mississippi county featured in the first three episodes settled a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by a family of a man killed during a no-knock raid. The mayor of St. Louis banned the use of no-knock warrants after the team’s reporting on the killing of a 63-year-old grandfather whose home was part of a multi-house raid. In Texas, prosecutors dropped a death penalty request in a case featured in the last episode in which a man is accused of killing an officer during a no-knock raid.
Jenn and Nicole worked closely with Audio’s Reena Flores, Sabby Robinson and former colleague Linah Mohammad. David Fallis, Renita Jablonski, Theo Balcomb and Sarah Childress edited the series. Ted Muldoon mixed the series and composed original music. Other close collaborators included Courtney Kan and Laura Michalski. Katty Huertas designed the series art. And, of course, many others throughout the newsroom and The Post were critical to making Broken Doors possible.
