The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wins national, local awards for 2024 reporting

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution won several national and local-level accolades for its reporting from the past year, including a public service honor reserved for the nation’s largest media organizations for its investigation into dysfunction and corruption in Georgia’s prison system.

The National Headliner Awards, one of the oldest annual contests recognizing journalism, awarded investigative reporters Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins first place in public service for “Hidden Homicides: Silence, chaos and secrecy inside the Georgia prison system.” The judges called the series “a tour de force in reporting that shamed public officials and forced real change.”

“The deadly conditions in Georgia’s prisons had been largely unknown to the public and had been inadequately addressed by the state until Carrie and Danny brought the pervasive violence prison staff and inmates lived under to light,” said Leroy Chapman, editor-in-chief of the AJC. “This work saved lives.”