Trade Journalism Award
The NIHCM Foundation Trade Journalism Award recognizes excellence in reporting for specialty audiences that can help health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, health care consumers, and related stakeholders improve the affordability, accessibility, and quality of US health care.
Application Information
The application cycle for the 32nd Annual Trade Journalism Award is now closed. Finalists will be announced this spring.
Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org with any questions.
32nd Annual Trade Journalism Award Process
Prize
A $15,000 prize will be presented to the Trade Journalism Award winner.
Have questions about our Trade Journalism Award?
Award FAQEligibility
- Articles or stories must originally have been published during the calendar year 2025.
- Entry can be either an individual story or a series. Stories must be advertised and disseminated as an official series in order to be submitted as one entry.
- Entries will be accepted from publications written for a specialty audience.
- All entries should include a focus on health care affordability, including increasing knowledge of the drivers and impacts of rising health care costs, or identifying solutions to improve health care access and quality. Entries should produce new insights that are relevant to health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, and/or related stakeholders.
- All entries should focus on health care in the United States.
Entry
- Deadline: February 3, 2026 at 11:59 pm ET
- Entry is free
- Limit three entries per entrant. Please see the FAQs for more information.
- An article or series can only be submitted to one category.
- Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org if you are unable to submit or have any questions.
Selection Criteria
- Quality, originality, and creativity of reporting.
- Entry produces new insights or impact that can inform efforts to improve health care affordability, including by increasing knowledge of the drivers and impacts of rising health care costs, or identifying solutions to improve health care access and quality.
- Entries should produce new insights that are relevant to health plans, policymakers, health care delivery, and/or related stakeholders.
Judges
Brad Fluegel
University of Pennsylvania
Jayme Fraser
USA Today
Erika Fry
Freelance
Anastassia Gliadkovskaya
Fierce Healthcare
Matthew Herper
STAT News
Shelby Livingston
Endpoints News
Robert Langreth
Bloomberg News