The Dao Prize, recognizing excellence in investigative journalism, announces the “Daylight Award,” a $30,000 Special Annual Award for the best reporting on fraud.
The National Journalism Center (NJC) is excited to announce that applications for the 2026 Dao Prize are officially open, along with the announcement of the 2026 Special Annual Award, the “Daylight Award,” for government fraud and abuse.
As part of its Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism, the Daylight Award will recognize reporting that highlights significant abuse of government programs for financial gain.
Judged by an independent committee and a guest judge, entries will be evaluated on five key criteria: investigative depth, public interest, fairness and accuracy, style, and impact.
This year, NJC is pleased to welcome Mollie Hemingway as a guest judge alongside the committee’s other esteemed panelists. Mollie Hemingway is the author of Alito, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, and a Fox News contributor. Hemingway won the 2025 Dao Grand Prize with The Federalist staff for their series on the Russia Collusion Hoax.
The winner of the Dao Grand Prize will not be eligible for the Special Dao Prize. Once the Grand Prize is selected, judges will automatically consider all qualifying applications for the Special Dao Prize: Daylight Award. This $30,000 award underscores the Dao Prize’s commitment to recognizing impactful investigative journalism at all levels and across all platforms.
In addition to the Special Annual Award, the grand prize for investigative journalism is $100,000, with two runners-up receiving $10,000 each for the general prize. Winners of the subcategories in local and multimedia reporting will also receive a $10,000 prize.
“Continuing in the spirit of last year’s DOGE prize, this year NJC and Dao have focused on another crucial reporting trend,” said Geoff Ingersoll, director of NJC. “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated recently that somewhere between $300 and $600 billion of the annual budget went to fraud, where every dollar wasted is often a dollar stolen from America’s most vulnerable communities.”
“We know there’s not a lot of interest in wider media to cover this story,” Ingersoll said. “It often doesn’t look good for them. That’s why we’re so pleased to announce the Daylight Award, and we hope independent reporters will capitalize.”
All U.S.-based news publications and independent reporters are welcome to submit entries published between September 1, 2025, and August 18, 2026. There is no limit to the number of journalists each outlet can submit, but each journalist is limited to three entries, and each entry may contain no more than five articles or videos.
The application deadline is August 18, 2026. Click here for full eligibility guidelines and to apply.
About the Dao Prize:
The Dao Prize, funded by the Dao Feng and Angela Foundation, is a series of annual awards recognizing excellence in investigative journalism that advances the public interest. Launched in 2023, the prize is administered by the National Journalism Center, a project of Young America’s Foundation. Learn more at DaoPrize.org.
