2021 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalists

Dogged reporter Dave Biscobing examined video of a policeman’s abusive taser use and systemic problems in one Arizona police department.

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In a deeply moving sidebar to the racial uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, an inner-city Black activist and “battle rapper” became an anti-violence legislator to honor his dead brother.

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Thoroughly reported and lovingly crafted with long-forgotten video and news reports from the era, this documentary afforded a definitive look at America's space race with the Soviet Union that led to the first men landing on the moon.

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A relentless investigative series by CBS 2 New York revealed how New York City dumped homeless families into squalid housing in Newark, New Jersey and other communities.

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In the earliest days of the COVID crisis, a hospital at the epicenter granted CBS News unfettered access, for a gripping one-hour special that captured the extraordinary care delivered by doctors, nurses and EMT’s.

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Reporter Clarissa Ward traced Russian efforts to subvert the 2020 Presidential campaign to a surprising place - an internet troll farm in Africa working to exploit fear among African American voters.

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As politicians and regulators consider the global impact of Amazon — and how to rein in founder Jeff Bezos’ power, reporter James Jacoby investigated how he built one of the most influential - and controversial - economic and cultural forces in the world.

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A powerful, harrowing documentary by filmmaker Waad al-Kateab went inside makeshift hospitals in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo to provide a personal lens into the country’s enduring conflict.

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Reporter Martin Smith's yearslong reporting and analysis of the rise of Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia resulted in this trenchant FRONTLINE documentary that also underscored the Trump administration's unwavering support of the regime, no matter its sins.

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This disturbing documentary untangled the web of conspiracy theorists and fake newsmakers to spotlight the corrosive impact of their efforts to undermine democracy.

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The death of a young Black man in police custody prompted reporter Lori Jane Gliha to conduct a tenacious investigation that led to officers being fired and a police chief being replaced.

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In this thought provoking local news documentary King 5 News Seattle chronicled a terminal cancer patient who, with humor and insight, decided to legally end his life.

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As Minneapolis caught fire this year — literally and figuratively — KSTP produced courageous, sustained team coverage of one of the biggest stories of the year, maintaining a commitment to its hometown viewers.

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With traditional shoe-leather reporting and innovative production, this online series documented San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and its descent into Wild West lawlessness.

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This heartbreaking yet hopeful online documentary detailed the strained relationship between law enforcement and the mentally ill, with impressive up close and personal access to both sides of the intractable issue.

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This engrossing feature documentary about a Chinese billionaire who came to the “rescue” of a shuttered General Motors plant in beleaguered Dayton, Ohio portrays the human and economic consequences of globalization.

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This inspiring historical film set in the civil rights era profiled a groundbreaking summer camp for disabled teens who helped build a movement and ultimately won passage of the American with Disabilities Act.

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NPR reporters traveled to gang-controlled towns inside the Mexican border for a series of radio reports that uncovered tragic personal stories of U.S. asylum seekers caught there, and the troubling impact of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico" policy.

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NOVA combined stunning graphics and expert medical analysis with moving human stories in this hour-long primer on the coronavirus crisis, the doctors on its frontlines and researchers in the race for its cure.

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Five Years North’s unparalleled access and observational approach provided nuance to a complex issue — America’s broken immigration system — by focusing on an undocumented teen working in New York City and the conflicted ICE agent who patrols his neighborhood.

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This remarkable podcast series about the daily realities inside San Quentin prison, produced by those living it, shattered the myths about serving time and what happens afterwards.

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This highly informative and entertaining podcast series guided listeners through the nascent history of the internet to help explain what it has done to our lives, our society and to the notion of truth.

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The New York Times Visual Investigative team used cutting edge digital techniques to present damning visual and forensic evidence, proving that Russian pilots bombed multiple Syrian hospitals and other locations filled with civilians.

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Piecing together cell phone video, police phone logs, and other artifacts, the Washington Post’s digital team reconstructed the clearing of Lafayette Park for President Trump’s "Bible photo op," driving home the disconnect between political ends and violent means.

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The riveting verité documentary Bedlam takes viewers inside an overwhelmed psychiatric ER for a painful reminder that America has turned its back on treatment for the mentally ill, who are often criminalized or left to fend for themselves.

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VICE’s fearless eyewitness reporting revealed the extent to which the Indian government is moving towards declaring its Muslim population second class citizens in an historic effort to undermine India’s secular roots.

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In a fresh take on climate change, producers of this ongoing series devoted an episode to taking a skeptical viewer on a reporting trip to meet and question scientists, and to witness the damning evidence firsthand.

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This extensive collection of breaking news, feature, and memorial stories created a 360 view in real time of the coronavirus pandemic, with courageous and thorough reporting on the virus’s explosion in New York City.

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This riveting podcast episode recounted the clash of Mississippi culture, politics and family, in an evocative history of the last American state to include the Confederate battle flag on their state flag.

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In this dazzling audio series, reporter Latif Nasser illustrated the toll of the decades-long global war on terror in his quest to find out how another Latif Nasser ended up in Guantanamo and why he’s still there, despite being cleared to leave.

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