FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Honored with 2024 Collier Prize

On Tuesday, April 23, the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications announced that FRONTLINE, The Texas Tribune, and ProPublica had won the 2024 Collier Prize for State Government Accountability. 

The media organizations were recognized for their collaborative reporting on the chaotic response to the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022.  

Drawing on a trove of unreleased investigative files, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune produced stunning, in-depth reporting that included a PBS documentary titled Inside the Uvalde Response and a series of written stories. The film featured never-before-published interviews conducted by state and federal investigators in the days immediately after the shooting. The investigation provided families in Uvalde and people across the country with a powerful and detailed account of what went wrong in one of the worst school shootings in American history. 

FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune identified critical missteps in the response to the Uvalde mass shooting, underlined the complexity, chaos and tragedy of the day and the lessons learned. 

Reporters Lomi Kriel and Lexi Churchill of ProPublica and The Tribune and Jinitzail Hernández, formerly of The Tribune, contributed to the series. Jessica Priest and Perla Trevizo of ProPublica and The Tribune and Zach Despart of The Tribune also contributed reporting. Juanita Ceballos, one of FRONTLINE’s Investigative Journalist Equity Initiative filmmakers, wrote and directed Inside the Uvalde Response alongside FRONTLINE producer and editor, Michelle Mizner. 

One of the Collier Prize judges described the project as “a standout investigation into the missteps of law enforcement during one of the most horrific school shootings in recent U.S. history,” and added, “The accompanying FRONTLINE documentary was especially strong, using officer body-cam footage and recording debriefings with officers to take viewers inside the investigation of what went wrong and why those entrusted to protect children and teachers failed to act until it was too late to save some of the victims.”

The Collier Prize for State Government Accountability at the University of Florida is designed to encourage coverage of state government in every state, focusing on investigative and political reporting. The prize will be awarded at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 27, 2024. 

Learn more about the Collier Prize here, and watch Inside the Uvalde Response below: