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Inside Story

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Inside Story is a regular question-and-answer feature of SEJournal Online in which we hear from award-winning journalists about the behind-the-scenes practices, ideas and breakthroughs that led to their best work, and their advice to other journalists about how to excel.

For questions and comments, or to suggest future Inside Story features, email Inside Story Co-Editors Rocky Kistner and Chioma Lewis at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

Also be sure to check out past winners of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment. Here's the list of winners from 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

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December 18, 2024

  • Beat Reporter Spotlights Costs of California's Environmental Reckoning

    The fossil fuel industry’s outsized climate policy role in the U.S.’s most populous state is the core of award-winning coverage from investigative journalist Aaron Cantú for nonprofit newsroom Capital & Main. In the new Inside Story Q&A, Cantú shares some of what challenged him in his reporting, what surprised him most and a lesson learned.

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November 6, 2024

  • Prize Winner Spurs Policy Change on Illinois PFAS Contamination

    When Illinois downplayed the results of long-delayed PFAS testing in the state’s public water supply, Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne revisited a story he had first covered two decades before. His investigation uncovered dangerous practices threatening public health, won him accolades and moved the needle on state policy. How he went about it, in the new Inside Story Q&A.

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September 18, 2024

  • Investigation Explores Dueling Narratives for Addressing Climate Change

    Is carbon capture a climate solution or a dangerous distraction? That was the question that Inside Climate News reporter Nicholas Kusnetz asked in his award-winning explanatory series, “Pipe Dreams.” For Inside Story, Kusnetz talks of the challenges of writing about a technology that largely doesn’t yet exist, and the variety of story forms he used to explore the reality of industry promises.

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August 21, 2024

  • The Battle To Protect Congo’s Vast Peatlands

    The Congo Basin is home to the biggest network of tropical peatlands in the world, a vast carbon storehouse central to combating the challenge of climate change. A team of reporters made the journey to this little-covered region and returned with an award-winning feature that told the tale not just of the peatlands, but of the people that protect it. The latest Inside Story Q&A.

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June 12, 2024

  • Unique Award-Winner Highlights Risks to Whales From Fight Over Fish

    Whales and fishers chasing the same catch can lead to serious impacts on marine mammals, including illegal shootings. To tell the story, journalist Nick Rahaim took an unusual tack — reporting while working as a deckhand on a fishing vessel. His award-winning account won praise for its balance, sourcing and insight. Rahaim talks about his approach in our Inside Story Q&A.

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May 1, 2024

  • Cross-Border Project Exposes Extent of PFAS Contamination in Europe

    A dozen European news partners collaborated last year to gather a massive set of water, soil and organism samples that pointed to more than 17,000 PFAS-contaminated sites in the region, many known to authorities but kept from the public. The award-winning project was led by Le Monde’s Stéphane Horel, who spoke with SEJournal for the latest Inside Story Q&A.

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March 27, 2024

  • Award-Winning Beat Reporting Highlights Legacy of Environmental Racism

    Top-flight regional reporting (and data analysis) that explored inequities between Black and white communities around Baltimore, Maryland, yielded journalist Scott Dance a wide range of stories — and a first-place prize in the most recent awards from the Society of Environmental Journalists. Dance, now on the climate desk for The Washington Post shares insights from the beat in the new Inside Story.

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February 21, 2024

  • In Their Own Words — Story Insights From SEJ’s 2023 Award Winners

    When Inside Story co-editor Rocky Kistner reviewed video statements from first-place winners of the Society of Environmental Journalists 2023 reporting awards, he found a series of striking insights into the work of environmental journalism. From environment as a true crime story and going beyond the headlines, to covering communities at risk and through powerful interests, a look at nine highly effective approaches to telling environmental stories.

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December 6, 2023

  • Reporter Unravels Complex Dynamic Between Climate Change and Nature

    Nature-based climate solutions have become a much-talked-of topic, one that journalist Gabriel Popkin turned into a loose beat through which to explore the complicated realities beyond some easy narratives. The resulting stories were published widely to high praise, and in the latest Inside Story Q&A, Popkin spoke about his efforts and offered up five critical factors for producing original, impactful journalism.

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November 1, 2023

  • High-Risk Reporting Yields Results on Palm Oil Investigation

    The devastation caused by the Amazonian palm oil industry was at the heart of an investigation by Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes. But first she had to face hostile sources, intransigent regulators and a robbery attempt. Ultimately, the project not only won a reporting prize from the Society of Environmental Journalists but brought global awareness and government action. Her experience, in Inside Story Q&A.

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SEJournal Online is the digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Learn more about SEJournal Online, including submission, subscription and advertising information.