Gizmodo journalists win Tech in Journalism award

Gizmodo Media Group journalists Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu have been awarded the National Press Foundation’s 2018 Technology in Journalism Award.

Hill and Mattu will receive the honor at NPF’s annual journalism awards dinner on Feb. 13, 2019. Learn more about the dinner and awards here.

NPF judges said: “Gizmodo explored the explosion of internet of things connected devices and the implications for privacy. Editorial partnered with technology to install and monitor devices in a reporter’s home, and by hacking the hardware of a network router was able to monitor all the information the devices were reporting back to the manufacturers. ‘The House That Spied on Me’ was an impressive way to illustrate and share valuable information with readers.”

The journalists converted Hill’s San Francisco apartment into a “smart home” by installing more than a dozen internet-connected objects, from a sleep-tracking mattress pad to a smart toothbrush.

Then they installed a custom router to monitor the information sent and received by the devices to better understand what the devices revealed about the people who lived there.

NPF judges also awarded an honorable mention to Bloomberg News for creating a game that challenged readers to explore the retail business crisis, backed up by excellent traditional storytelling.

The Technology in Journalism Award, established in 2015, recognizes individuals or organizations that develop, adapt or creatively apply specific tools or technologies in the gathering and reporting of impactful journalism of the highest quality. Previous winners of this award can be seen here.