The Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual literary award for "a journalist whose work has brought public attention to important issues", awarded by the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. It was established in 1987 in memory of journalist Helen Bernstein, and there is a cash award of $15,000.

Winners

* 1988 –

James Reston James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.'' Early lif ...

for fifty years of journalism * 1989 –

Judy Woodruff Judy Carline Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is an American broadcast journalist who has worked in network, cable, and public television news since 1976. She is the anchor and managing editor of ''PBS NewsHour''. Woodruff has covered every presi ...

for television reporting of the

Iran–Contra affair The Iran–Contra affair ( fa, ماجرای ایران-کنترا, es, Caso Irán–Contra), often referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the McFarlane affair (in Iran), or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States ...

* 1990 –

Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global tr ...

for ''

From Beirut to Jerusalem ''From Beirut to Jerusalem'' (1989) is a book by American journalist Thomas L. Friedman chronicling his days as a reporter in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War and in Jerusalem through the first year of the Intifada. Friedman wrote a 17-pa ...

'' * 1991 –

Nicholas Lemann Nicholas Berthelot Lemann is an American writer and academic, the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has be ...

for ''The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America'' * 1992 –

Alex Kotlowitz Alex Kotlowitz (born March 31, 1955) is an American journalist, author, and filmmaker. His 1991 book ''There Are No Children Here'' was a national bestseller and received the Christopher Award and Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Jou ...

for '' There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America'' * 1993 –

Samuel Freedman Samuel Freedman, (16 April 1908 – 6 March 1993), was a Canadian lawyer and judge, who served as Chief Justice of Manitoba from 1971 to 1983. Personal life and education Born on 16 April 1908, to Nathan and Ada (Foxman) Freedman in Zhytomyr, R ...

for ''Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church'' * 1994 –

David Remnick David J. Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer and editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book '' Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'', and is also the author of ''Resurrection'' and ''King of th ...

for '' Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'' * 1995 –

Joseph Nocera Joseph Nocera (born May 6, 1952) is an American business journalist, and author. He has written for The New York Times since April 2005, writing for the Op-Ed page from 2011 to 2015. He was also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg L.P.#Bloomberg O ...

for ''A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class'' * 1996 –

Tina Rosenberg Tina Rosenberg (born April 14, 1960) is an American journalist and the author of three books. For one of them, '' The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism'' (1995), she won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and the Nati ...

for '' The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism'' * 1997 –

David Quammen David Quammen (born February 24, 1948) is an American science, nature, and travel writer and the author of fifteen books. His articles have appeared in ''Outside Magazine'', ''National Geographic'', '' Harper's'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The New York ...

for ''The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions'' * 1998 –

Patti Waldmeir Patti may refer to: People * Patti (name) * Patti caste, a group of people Places * Patti, Iran (disambiguation) * Patti, Punjab, India * Patti, Punjab Assembly constituency, India * Patti, Sicily * Patti, Uttar Pradesh, India * Patti, Uttar Prad ...

for ''Anatomy of A Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa'' * 1999 –

Philip Gourevitch Philip Gourevitch (born 1961), an American author and journalist, is a longtime staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' and a former editor of ''The Paris Review''. His most recent book is '' The Ballad of Abu Ghraib'' (2008), an account of Iraq's ...

for '' We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda'' * 2000 ''Joint winner:'' – James Mann for ''About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton'' * 2000 ''Joint winner:'' –

Patrick Tyler Patrick E. Tyler is an author and formerly chief correspondent for ''The New York Times''.CORRESPONDENT BIOGRAPHY. https://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/patrick-tyler-bio.html Readers' Opinions ''Accessed on April 25, 2008'' He is the au ...

for '' A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China: An Investigative History'' * 2001 –

Elaine Sciolino Elaine Sciolino is an author and contributing writer of ''The New York Times'', writing from France since 2002. She grew up near Buffalo (NY) and began her career as a journalist with Newsweek magazine ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly onl ...

for ''Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran'' * 2002 –

Nina Bernstein Nina Bernstein is an American journalist, best known for her ''New York Times'' reporting on social and legal issues, including coverage of immigration, child welfare and health care. In 21 years at the Times, from which she retired at the end o ...

for ''The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care'' * 2003 – Keith Bradsher for ''High and Mighty: SUVs--The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way'' * 2004 –

Dana Priest Dana Louise Priest (born May 23, 1957) is an American journalist, writer and teacher. She has worked for nearly 30 years for the ''The Washington Post, Washington Post'' and became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Jo ...

for ''The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America’s Military'' (W. W. Norton & Company) * 2005 –

Jason DeParle Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

for ''American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare'' (Viking) * 2006 –

George Packer George Packer (born August 13, 1960) is a US journalist, novelist, and playwright. He is best known for his writings for ''The New Yorker'' and ''The Atlantic'' about U.S. foreign policy and for his book '' The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq''. ...

for '' The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) * 2007 –

Lawrence Wright Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American writer and journalist, who is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as th ...

for '' The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11'' (Alfred A. Knopf) * 2008 –

Charlie Savage Charles or Charlie Savage may refer to: Real people * Charles Savage (banker) (fl. 1740s), governor of the Bank of England, 1745–1747 * Charles Savage (beachcomber) (died 1813), sailor and beachcomber known for his exploits on the islands of Fi ...

for ''Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy'' (Little Brown & Company) * 2009 –

Jane Mayer Jane Meredith Mayer (born 1955) is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1995. She has written for the publication about money in politics; government prosecution of whistleblowers; the Uni ...

for '' The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals'' (Doubleday) * 2010 –

David Finkel David Louis Finkel (born October 28, 1955) is an American journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 as a staff writer at ''The Washington Post''. As of January 2017, he was national enterprise editor at the ''Post''. He has also worked for the ...

for ''

The Good Soldiers ''The Good Soldiers'' (2009) is a non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in im ...

'' (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar Straus and Giroux) * 2011 –

Shane Harris Shane Harris is an American journalist and author. He is a senior national security writer at the ''Washington Post''. He specializes in coverage of America's intelligence agencies. He is author of the books '' The Watchers: The Rise of Americ ...

for '' The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State'' * 2012 – Ellen Schultz for ''Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers'' * 2013 –

Katherine Boo Katherine "Kate" J. Boo (born August 12, 1964) is an American investigative journalist who has documented the lives of people in poverty. She has won the MacArthur "genius" award (2002) and the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), and her wo ...

for '' Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity'' * 2014 –

Dan Fagin Dan Fagin (born February 1, 1963) is an American journalist who specializes in environmental science. He won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his best-selling book '' Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation''. ''Toms River ...

for '' Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation'' * 2015 –

Anand Giridharadas Anand Giridharadas () is an American journalist and political pundit. He is a former columnist for ''The New York Times''. He is the author of four books: ''India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking'' (2011), ''The True American: ...

for ''The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas'' * 2016 – Jill Leovy for ''Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America'' * 2017 –

for '' Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right'' * 2018 –

Masha Gessen Masha Gessen (born 13 January 1967) is a Russian-American journalist, author, translator and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. Gess ...

for ''The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia'' * 2019 –

Shane Bauer Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for ''Mother Jones'' magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best ...

for '' American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment'' ** ''No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria'' by Rania Abouzeid ** ''The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy'' by Anna Clark ** ''Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America'' by

Eliza Griswold Eliza Griswold (born February 9, 1973) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and poet. Griswold is currently a contributing writer to ''The New Yorker'' and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. She is the author of ...

** ''Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America'' by

Beth Macy Beth Macy (born c. 1964) is an American journalist and non-fiction writer. She is the author of four published books, including national bestsellers ''Factory Man'' (2014) and ''Dope Sick'' (2018). Early life The daughter of a factory worker, S ...

* 2020 –

Rachel Louise Snyder Rachel Louise Snyder is an American journalist, writer, and professor. She covers domestic violence and previously worked as a foreign correspondent for the public radio program ''Marketplace'', and also contributed to ''All Things Considered'' a ...

for ''No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us'' ** '' She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement'' by

Jodi Kantor Jodi Kantor (born April 21, 1975) is an American journalist. She is a ''New York Times'' correspondent whose work has covered the workplace, technology, and gender. She has been the paper's Arts & Leisure editor and covered two presidential campa ...

and

Megan Twohey Megan Twohey () is an American journalist with ''The New York Times''. She has written investigative reports for Reuters, the ''Chicago Tribune,'' and the '' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel''. Twohey's investigative reports have exposed exploitativ ...

** ''Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration'' by

Emily Bazelon Emily Bazelon (born March 4, 1971) is an American journalist. She is a staff writer for ''The New York Times Magazine,'' a senior research fellow at Yale Law School, and co-host of the ''Slate'' podcast ''Political Gabfest''. She is a former sen ...

** ''A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century'' by

** '' The Outlaw Ocean: Journey’s Across the Last Untamed Frontier'' by

Ian Urbina Ian Urbina (born March 29, 1972) is an American investigative reporter who has written for a variety of outlets, including ''The New York Times'' and ''The Atlantic''. Urbina is the author of The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York T ...

* 2022 -

Andrea Elliott Andrea Elliott is an American journalist and a staff writer for ''The New York Times''. She is the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in both Journalism (2007) and Letters (2022). She received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a ser ...

for '' Invisible Child : Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City''

References

{{reflist

External links

List of past winners
Awards established in 1987 American non-fiction literary awards 1987 establishments in New York City New York Public Library *