Bloomberg’s Leopold wins Freedom of Information Award

Jason Leopold, senior reporter for Bloomberg News and government-described “FOIA Terrorist,” is this year’s winner of the Brechner Freedom of Information Award for his tenacity and passion in acquiring public records.

The award is administered by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

Leopold was selected among 27 entries representing the nation’s best public-records journalism. He has filed thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests through two decades of reporting. Not only does Leopold break news through FOIA, but he shares what he finds with the public and other reporters, including through a weekly email newsletter and the podcast Disclosure.

“The breadth of this work, and the impact on who Leopold is investigating, is staggering,” wrote one of the three judges, Francisco Vara-Orta, trainer and director of diversity and inclusion for Investigative Reporters and Editors. “He is the blueprint for strong open records reporting and not being scared to go to court with resources he has behind him. He also shares his expertise with other journalists regularly so he pays it forward in democratizing best practices beyond his outlet.”

Leopold has been noted as the most prolific individual FOIA litigant in the nation. Last year, he filed 17 FOIA lawsuits to compel agencies to provide public records. He has testified before Congress regarding FOIA and is a frequent speaker and trainer at journalism conferences.

He also has been a recipient of the 2023 Gerald Loeb award for investigative reporting, a 2022 George Polk award for health reporting and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. In 2016, Leopold was awarded the FOI award from IRE and was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame.