GOLD BATON - FRONTLINE

A standard-bearer and innovator, this year FRONTLINE produced an exceptional lineup of outstanding programs that illustrated how well it both champions traditional documentaries while also forging ahead with cutting edge, adaptive content, as exemplified by eight programs: Myanmar's Killing Fields | Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia | The Last Generation | Putin's Revenge | Living with Murder | The Gang Crackdown | Mosul | Life on Parole

The Everglades: Where Politics, Money and Race Collide - WFOR

An engaging hour-long documentary that seamlessly explored the deeper environmental, political and social roots of Florida’s contaminated Everglades.

The Whistleblower and Too Big to Prosecute - CBS 60 Minutes I The Washington Post

In this joint investigative series, 60 Minutes and The Washington Post exposed a war within the DEA over the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the opioid epidemic.

RBG - CNN Films

The first theatrical documentary to present a comprehensive and intimate portrait of a sitting Supreme Court Justice, RBG is an engrossing, entertaining lesson in women’s rights and constitutional law.

Human Rights Abuses Reporting - CNN International and Nima Elbagir

CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir's fearless reporting across Africa, from a modern day slave market in Libya, to child labor in Congo, and a smuggler’s network in Nigeria, documented rarely seen exploitation and corruption.

This is Home: A Refugee Story - EPIX, Gidalya Pictures & Blumhouse

This feature-length documentary gave unique insight into the mechanics and challenges of refugee assimilation, with extraordinary depth and detail, to capture what it is to be a refugee.

The Vietnam War - Florentine Films & WETA

The Vietnam War is a major achievement in documentary storytelling; a ten-part, 18-hour documentary film series ten years in the making, that viscerally brought the war and the chaotic epoch it encompassed to life.

I Am Evidence - HBO Films

Focusing on three American cities grappling with tens of thousands of untested rape kits, this compelling and disturbing feature-length documentary detailed the experiences of four victims caught up in a fundamentally flawed criminal justice system.

Drivers Under Siege - NBC Bay Area KNTV

The hard-hitting local investigative series provided shocking testimony about the increase in violent attacks on Bay Area bus drivers, which brought the problem to light and ultimately helped address it.

Kept Out - Reveal | PRX | PBS NewHour Associated Press

This painstakingly researched exposé on modern day “redlining”- denying mortgages and home loans to people of color - analyzed over 30 million records to provide a meticulous, multi-platform indictment of today’s banking system.

Imminent Danger - RMPBS Insight with John Ferrugia

With remarkable access to the families of mentally disturbed killers, Rocky Mountain PBS took an informative deep dive into Colorado’s “Imminent Danger” rule that critics argue does not allow enough early intervention, especially for the mentally ill who own guns.

On Her Shoulders - RYOT & Red Reel

The artfully shot and edited documentary film chronicled a war crimes survivor’s story, using dense narrative layers to give context to an underreported international human rights crisis: ISIS’s persecution of the Yazidi people.

Our Town - This American Life

An engaging portrait of one Alabama town that has absorbed a decades-long surge in immigrant workers, this two-part radio program busted myths and offered important lessons for the rest of the country.

Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice - WNYC

With gripping personal stories and tense intimate scenes, this nine-episode podcast revealed a web-like juvenile justice system and explored its devastating long term effects on young people.

Trump, Inc - WNYC and ProPublica

Throughout the first season of this collaborative reporting podcast, a team of investigative reporters expertly tackled the business relations between the Trump administration, the Trump family, the Trump business and the rest of the world.

Zombie Campaigns - WTSP-TV and Tampa Bay Times

The investigative partnership between WTSP and The Tampa Bay Times combined computer-assisted reporting with clever storytelling to expose loopholes in federal campaign laws that allowed politicians to continue using campaign funds long after they leave office, or even die.