The Barlett and Steele Awards, named in honor of renowned investigative business journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, were expanded in 2022.
The awards now have two categories: one for news organizations with a national or global audience and one for publications with a regional or local focus. Additionally, an award will be given to an Outstanding Young Journalist that will recognize the work of a journalist under 35 years of age who demonstrates outstanding ability in investigative business reporting.
Since their inception in 2007, the Barlett & Steele Awards have blazed a high-visibility path of excellence in rewarding incisive business reporting that “tells us something we don’t know.”
The awards are named for the illustrious investigative business journalist team of Don Barlett & Jim Steele. Donald Barlett and James Steele worked together for more than four decades, first at The Philadelphia Inquirer (1971-1997), where they won two Pulitzer Prizes and scores of other national journalism awards, then at Time magazine (1997-2006), where they earned two National Magazine Awards, becoming the first journalists in history to win both the Pulitzer and its magazine equivalent, and most recently were contributing editors at Vanity Fair (2006-2017). The Washington Journalism Review said of Barlett and Steele: “They are almost certainly the best team in the history of investigative reporting.”
Administered by The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, the Barlett & Steele awards for Gold, Silver and Bronze each fall honor journalists and news organizations ranging in size from local to international.
Entries will be accepted between June 1st, 2026 and July 31st, 2026 for articles originally published or broadcast between July 1st, 2025 and June 30th, 2026. Applications will be accepted only online and from editors or the contest coordinator designated by your news organization. Entries from freelance journalists are welcome but must be accompanied by a letter from an editor or director.
Each media outlet may submit no more than two entries per category (two for either the national or regional category and two for outstanding young journalist, for a total of four entries max per media outlet).
There are no entry fees for the 2026 Barlett and Steele Awards.
To enter, go here.
