TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting: Uncovering Commercial Bribery

TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting: Uncovering Commercial Bribery is a grant from TRACE Foundation that funds investigative journalists who uncover business-related bribery, financial crime, and commercial misconduct. The prize recognizes reporting that advances commercial transparency and good governance globally.

Past winners include the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for the Panama Papers and FinCEN Files investigations, ProPublica for ransomware extortion reporting, and journalists from Africa, Latin America, and Europe exposing corruption ranging from oil fraud to pension privatization abuse.

For 2026, the foundation has shifted focus from recognizing past journalism to supporting future investigative work through grants. Print, broadcast, and online reporters from any country are eligible.

TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting: Uncovering Commercial Bribery The TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting recognizes journalism that uncovers business-related bribery and financial crime with the goal of increasing commercial transparency and good governance.

Given the extraordinary pressure on investigative journalism in the U.S. and many autocratic countries, the TRACE Foundation will shift its focus in 2026 from recognizing and rewarding past journalism to supporting future efforts with grants. A decision whether to resume the Prize for 2026 will be made by November of next year.

“Every year we receive extraordinary examples of investigative journalism that expose corruption with the goal of advancing accountability and transparency. We look forward to receiving this year’s submissions and honoring the journalists undertaking this important work. ” Alexandra Addison-Wrage President and Founder , TRACE “Corruption is a global virus, and the battle against it must be, too.

The TRACE prize uniquely recognizes and encourages the courageous, meticulous journalism that is part of that fight, anywhere it finds a voice.

” Diana Henriques Judge , TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Founder and Chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation Financial writer and author, formerly with The New York Times Writer and digital communication strategist, public speaker and award-winning blogger, Global Reporting Centre in Vancouver, BC President of the Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers, journalist security consultant, formerly a Knight International Journalism Fellow with the International Center for Journalists, based in Texas The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists won the Prize for their investigative piece , "Caspian Cabals."

This deep examination of a multinational oil boondoggle stood out as a clear winner not only for its exceptional quality and meticulous reporting, but also for its global significance. This project underscores a crucial truth: corruption knows no borders, race, or culture - it is a universal issue that is best seen through the widest lens possible.

Elijah Kanyi and Cynthia Gichiri also won for their riveting documentary , "Fertile Deception," a remarkably complete dissection of a shocking act of corporate deceit in Kenya : the widespread sale and distribution of counterfeit fertilizer during a period of great stress for Kenyan agriculture. The investigative methods were impeccable.

Whistleblower accounts were verified with film footage, the suspect product was analyzed in credible laboratories, the corporate paper trail was carefully documented, and - most importantly - the human impact was compellingly shown. Syrian Airline, Haftar’s Army Profit from Human Smuggling Mahmoud Elsobky won the Prize for his investigative piece, “Syrian Airline, Haftar’s Army Profit from Human Smuggling.

” This undercover project, supported by RIJ and published in the New Arab , exposes a network profiting off desperate migrants seeking refuge in Europe, bringing to light smuggling networks and the involvement of a private Syrian airline and a Libyan military authority.

The second recipient is a team of journalists from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists , in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project , and Paper Trail Media , for the extensive report “Cyprus Confidential. ” This 10-part series documents the sweeping degree to which the European Union has allowed member-state Cyprus to become a haven for financial misbehavior.

Dewald van Rensburg Investigative Journalist , amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism “ The Laundry ,” a two-part series, is the first product of an ongoing investigation by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.

These stories take readers deep inside the money-laundering industry in South Africa, showing step-by-step how existing banks and key professionals form the building blocks of an informal banking sector that facilitates large-scale crime and secretly moves staggering amounts of money offshore.

The Gecko Project , BBC , and Mongabay Their joint investigation, published in various installments throughout the three news outlets, focuses on how Indonesian communities, whose traditional agricultural life has been upended by large-scale palm oil production, have been systematically cheated by corporations that promised – and in many cases, that were legally required – to share a portion of their profits with the villagers whose land made those profits possible.

Some of the key outputs from the investigation can be seen here , here and here . (L-R) Luisa García Tellez and Lilia Saúl Rodríguez Their work uncovered the consequences of a decades-long drive to privatize pensions across Latin America: poor returns, excessive fees, opaque transactions and questionable investments.

Sveriges Television of Sweden , Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen of Germany , and Confluence Media of India Their reporting documented a double standard that allowed a host of unethical and possibly illegal practices to flourish at the India operations of Swedish company Scania. (L-R) Zorayda Gallegos Valle, freelance, and the FinCEN Files.

Zorayda Gallegos Valle, a freelance journalist writing for El País in Mexico, won the TRACE Prize for her investigation that uncovered the Mexican Army’s scheme to divert at least $156 million of public resources through hundreds of shell companies contracted to complete infrastructure projects.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, BuzzFeed News and more than 100 media partners won the TRACE Prize for their 16-month long FinCEN Files investigation . They reviewed thousands of financial intelligence documents and uncovered a flawed oversight process that allowed global banks to profit from suspect transactions. Their reporting has resulted in new reforms and investigations in multiple countries.

Hear from the winners and learn more about their investigations. (L-R) Iraqi journalist Asaad Al-Zalzalee and ProPublica reporter Renee Dudley. Iraqi journalist Asaad Al-Zalzalee was awarded the TRACE Prize for his investigation “ Schools of Illusion ,” which uncovered widespread corporate fraud that led to the waste of more than US$200 million that was allocated to build schools in Iraq.

The second recipient of the TRACE Prize was Renee Dudley, a senior reporter with ProPublica, whose investigation “ The Extortion Economy ” uncovered a scheme in which businesses supposedly aimed at helping the victims of ransomware actually foster the practice by secretly paying off the hackers. The project profiled a young “geek” in Normal, Illinois, who developed ransomware decryption tools in his spare time.

(L-R) TRACE President Alexandra Wrage and Africa Uncensored's John-Allan Namu; freelance journalist Philippe Engels and Alexandra Wrage. The 2019 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting was awarded to a five-person team from Africa Uncensored for their investigation The Profiteers , which uncovered wartime corruption in East Africa . The team included John-Allan Namu , Elijah Kanyi , Samuel Munia , Steve Biko and Clement Kumalija.

The other winning team, Khadija Sharife from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Philippe Engels , freelance, exposed bribery in oil sales in their investigation "The Unlikely Partnership that Unlocked Congo's Crude." The story was published by both OCCRP and Médor . Read the full press release here .

(L-R) Representatives of the Investiga Lava Jato team: Raúl Olmos, Milagros Salazar and Flávio Ferreira; TRACE President Alexandra Wrage; Jaimi Dowdell and Kelly Carr. Read the full press release here . The ICIJ Team (left) and Dorothee Myriam Kellou (right) accepts the 2017 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting with TRACE President Alexandra Wrage.

The 2017 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting was awarded to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) for The Panama Papers and to freelance Journalist, Dorothee Myriam Kellou , for her investigation into Lafarge's operations in Syria. Read the full press release here.

The 2016 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting was awarded to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in conjunction with Swedish Television’s Uppdrag Granskning (Mission Investigate) and Sweden’s TT News Agency, for their investigation uncovering a complex Azerbaijan telecom scandal.

The other winning team was from The Wall Street Journal , for their reporting on the vast network of corruption relating to Malaysia's 1MDB fund. Read the full press release here . You are now leaving the TRACE website.