ProPublica’s Podkul wins Birger award

Cezary Podkul, a financial investigative reporter for ProPublica, is this year’s winner of the Larry Birger Young Business Journalist prize, honoring journalists under age 30.

He will receive the award and a $1,500 honorarium Oct. 9 at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ New York Fall Conference in midtown Manhattan.

It is the second year for the competition. Last year’s winner was Mina Kimes of Bloomberg News.

The judging panel also chose to honor three finalists: Jeanna Smialek, Federal Reserve reporter, Washington Bureau, Bloomberg; Dana Mattioli, mergers and acquisition reporter, Wall Street Journal; and Casey Sullivan, Bloomberg BNA, Big Law Business

Made possible by a $7,500 gift from rbb Communications of Miami, Fla., the award commemorates Birger, a former Miami Herald business editor who led SABEW as president in 1977. Birger was later a principal in rbb until his death in 1998. Josh Merkin, Vice President, rbb will present the award to Podkul in New York, Oct. 9.

“Larry Birger played an important role in the development of business journalism and it gives us great pleasure to recognize his legacy through this award to Podkul,” said Merkin.

The judges noted Podkul’s stellar work over a variety of publications, including USA Today, The Washington Post and Reuters, where he worked most recently before joining ProPublica last year. His work for USA Today helped free-up hundreds of millions in unspent highway funds earmarked by Congress for pet projects. He has covered energy and commodities and the private equity industry, among other beats, after leaving investment banking in 2008 to pursue journalism.

Cezary, 31, earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a 2011 alumnus of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, where his master’s thesis on unspent highway earmarks developed into the eventual USA Today report and was featured on NBC Nightly News. Cezary turned 30 during 2014 meeting the award eligibly requirements. In addition to being a SABEW member, he also serves on the board of the New York Financial Writers’ Association.