NIHCM Foundation: Investigative and General Reporting Award Grant

The NIHCM Foundation Investigative and General Reporting Award honors outstanding reporting that enhances understanding of U.S. health care affordability and quality. A $20,000 prize is awarded to the winner, with entries evaluated for quality, originality, and impact. Eligible submissions include stories published in 2025 from national outlets, focusing on insightful reporting that informs health care policymakers and consumers about rising costs and access solutions.

The NIHCM Foundation Investigative and General Reporting Award recognizes excellence in reporting that can help health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, health care consumers, and related stakeholders improve the affordability, accessibility, and quality of US health care.
Prize
A $20,000 prize will be presented to the winner.
Selection Criteria
Quality, originality, and creativity of reporting.Entry produces new insights or impact that can inform efforts to improve health care affordability, including by increasing knowledge of the drivers and impacts of rising health care costs, or identifying solutions to improve health care access and quality.Entries should produce new insights that are relevant to health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, and/or related stakeholders.

Eligibility

Articles or stories must originally have been published during the calendar year 2025.Entry can be either an individual story or a series. Stories must be advertised and disseminated as an official series in order to be submitted as one entry.Entries will be accepted from national newspapers, magazines, websites, and nonprofit news organizations.The entrant is the person completing the form via the online entry system. An entrant can be an awards coordinator, an administrative assistant, or a leading author.All entries should include a focus on health care affordability, including increasing knowledge of the drivers and impacts of rising health care costs, or identifying solutions to improve health care access and quality. Entries should produce new insights that are relevant to health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, and/or related stakeholders.All entries should focus on health care in the United States.Limit three entries per entrantAn article or series can only be submitted to one category.If part of a series, we allow for up to 8 entry items to be entered in a single application. Applicants previously eligible for the Data-Driven Storytelling Award should apply in either the Investigative and General Reporting Award or Local Media Award categories.Any co-authors or recognized contributors to the work should be listed. It is common for there to be no co-contributors.An individual can submit three entries for Investigative & General and three entries for Trade.The two categories are considered two separate awards, as long as they are not the same applications.

Ineligibility

Entries produced by a local media outlet and principally focused on a local or statewide market should instead apply in the Local Media Award category.This category is NOT for documentaries or audio production (including podcasts).Documentaries and podcasts will be accepted in the Television and Audio Award category if they aired on the web in affiliation with a television or radio news organization, or through an online streaming platform.