N.C. reporters and a freelancer for a nonprofit win this year's Thomas Stokes Award for energy and environment reporting

Reporters who investigated rural environmental issues share this year's Thomas L. Stokes Award for Best Energy and Environment Writing from the National Press Foundation.

The winners are Eli Cahan, a freelance writer for California-based nonprofit Capital & Main and the USA Today Network; and Gavin Off and Ames Alexander of The Charlotte Observer and Adam Wagner the Raleigh News & Observer, newspapers owned by The McClatchy Co.

In “We’re Losing Our People,” Cahan drew attention to Native Americans in Arizona, Utah and Colorado who face lung disease from regular exposure to toxic metals from mines and analyzed the disproportionate toll Covid-19 took on indigenous people with pre-existing lung problems. Judges praised the piece for its “poignancy and impact” and called it “beautiful storytelling providing a sense of place, historical context and giving a voice to people who have not been heard.”

The first installment of the three-part series was published Dec. 4.

“Big Poultry” was a three–part deep dive into an industry that in North Carolina anually raises over 1 billion birds and generates 2.5 billion pounds of manure, which can leach into nearby water sources and affect human health. The reporters found that the state does not oversee the industry’s environmental impact and that ammonia from chicken-farm waste spreads to Maryland through the Chesapeake Bay.

Judges said the two newspapers “teamed up on a true public service mission to give a literal scorecard on how the poultry industry is operating in North Carolina … [and] exposing how little neighbors have in terms of recourse.” They said the investigation features “impressive” animation and visualization of the densely built chicken farms in North Carolina for an “exemplary” package.

The Stokes Award was created in 1959 to honor the late Thomas L. Stokes, a national-affairs columnist interested in energy, natural resources and the environment.