Sam Quinones is one of my journalistic heroes. Rather than just orating about drugs, he reported the American opioid crisis at street level in his 2015 book Dreamland, and followed that six years later with another revelatory book, The Least of Us. So it was a great pleasure last week to award him a 2024 Zenger Prize.
A 2024 what? Don’t fret if you have no idea what a Zenger Prize is. Maybe one percent of Americans have heard of John Peter Zenger, a courageous colonial journalist imprisoned in November 1734 for criticizing the royal governor of New York, and freed nine months later when a gutsy jury defied British law (which defined journalism as public relations for government) and said Zenger was innocent.
And don’t worry if you’ve never heard of the Zenger Prize: My tiny foundation, Zenger House, is now in its third year of awarding ten $1,000 prizes each year, but we haven’t received much publicity. When we followed up an email with a phone call to Quinones, he was initially polite enough not to say that he had never heard of the Zenger Prize: His first response: “Thank you to Zenger House for selecting me. It’s quite unexpected. Terrific honor. And we’re really thrilled in my household.”
Others did not hide their surprise. Justin Brierley, creator of “The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God” podcast, said, “I had to check that this wasn’t <laugh> someone trying to scam me. It’s not every day I receive notification of winning a prize that—hand on heart honest—I hadn’t even realized existed. Once I’d seen it checked out <laugh> I’m just absolutely delighted to have been awarded this. The podcast documentary series has only been around for four months so far, so having this very early honor for the podcast is very encouraging.”
Anat Rubin did stellar Pro Publica investigating of a miscarriage of justice: Louisiana appeals courts judges for twelve years did not even read the petitions of hundreds of inmates who claimed wrongful conviction but could not afford a lawyer. Here’s what she said regarding her notification about winning a Zenger: “Who is this person? <Laugh> Is this a scam? Are they gonna ask for my Social Security? Once I got past that, which was very quickly, I was very honored.” She’s also pleased that Zenger House is a Christian organization: “You might reach a different audience, [so] we’re not speaking to the same group of people all the time.
Eric McLaughlin is a missionary in Africa who wrote a moving article, “I Stumbled in the Steps of the Good Samaritan,” for Christianity Today. He said, “I almost deleted the e-mail. I do a small amount of medical scientific publishing and there are all sorts of pay-for-publication journals out there. They try to trick you in all sorts of ways. But when I saw that it was in reference to not a scientific article, but rather the article I wrote for CT, I realized this was different. Then it was great to go to the Zenger House website and [see past winners] because I recognized their names from reading.”
Another of this year’s Zenger Prize winners, David Begoun, is a rabbi in Israel with a dramatic podcast featuring interviews with survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack, and family members of hostages. He said, “My first response was this is spam, and they’re gonna ask me for my credit card information. I was shocked that somehow my podcast was discovered. After I Googled and saw that this was for real, I felt validated because when you’re producing content, you never really know who’s listening, if you’re making an impact at all. When I saw that Zenger House had identified my podcast as being worthy of a prize and contributing in a meaningful way, I felt great about it.”
And Sam Quinones, who initially did not give away his surprise, later in our interview said, “I have to confess, I didn’t know what Zenger House was. So I looked you up online, and when I did, I was thrilled. John Peter Zenger back in the 1700s stood up and was brought up on trial because you couldn’t say bad things about the ruler, and the people found him not guilty. To me, that’s the role of journalism. You go against the prevailing winds as much as you need to.”
Amen. Please go to Zenger Prize to read/listen to some great journalism, or to watch a 10-minute video about the winners. Starting next Monday we’ll bring you excerpts of our interviews with winners where they talk not about Zenger House but about their work in showing infants dying, missile attacks being resisted, Christ beckoning, and much besides.
For more information about Zenger House and links to all the winners of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 awards, please go to https://www.zengerhouse.com