Women are increasingly driving the debate on the seminal issues facing state legislatures across the country. Women lawmakers are at the forefront of efforts to find bipartisan solutions on issues ranging from health care, education and public safety to immigration, election security and LGBTQ rights – even before a woman became a major party candidate for the highest office. For journalists, the expanding role of women is central to the coverage of policy and politics in a jam-packed 2024 election year.

To recognize outstanding reporting on women in politics in 2024, Pivotal Ventures has enabled the National Press Foundation to offer one $5,000 cash prize to work in any medium which demonstrates nuance, context and accuracy on this topic. Applicants are encouraged to refer to NPF’s recently published Guidelines for Covering Women in Politics for criteria that will be considered.

The award is open to U.S.-based journalists working in any media format and platform, from podcasts to television packages to print/digital stories. Entries could range from well-crafted features, to series, to investigative journalism regarding incumbent women lawmakers or candidates for office on a local or national scale.

Meribah Knight of NPR’s Embedded podcast has won NPF’s 2024 Reporting on Women in Politics Award. Knight followed the story of three conservative mothers determined to pass gun reform laws in their home state of Tennessee following the 2023 shooting at The Covenant School.

“This series is a tour de force of in-depth reporting – sensitive, unsparing and grippingly told. It’s a morality play about women’s activism and citizens’ political participation, with national implications that are well explained but not overplayed,” NPF judges said. “The human impact of the political process and the stakes of local lawmaking are vividly laid out, with devastating results.”