The Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism

Good environmental journalism changes things. It puts a name to what was once invisible, and makes people care about places and problems they might never otherwise encounter. This is the idea behind the Knight-Risser Prize. And after a decade of recognizing outstanding published work, we’re doing something different: Starting in 2026, the prize will help fund the reporting before it happens. 

Up to $10,000 is available to support an enterprise or investigative environmental story set in the western United States, which is defined as all states west of the Mississippi River, including Hawaii and Alaska.

Criteria

The prize is open to any environmental topic, though climate stories are of particular interest to us. The reporting should document or illuminate issues that have not previously received wide public attention, and point toward actionable solutions. 

Local or regional stories are welcome. So are proposals that  span multiple formats, such as text, audio, video and photography. 

This prize is for focused reporting projects, not beats or extended investigations. If a story could realistically be completed within six months, it’s a good fit. A story that is likely to be part of a larger occasional series or ongoing project is acceptable.

Eligibility

The Knight-Risser prize is open to reporters, photographers, radio and audio journalists, television and video journalists, and documentary filmmakers working in the United States.

• Staff journalists need support from their news organization before applying.
• Freelancers must provide a clear distribution plan for the finished work.
   

The prize is not open to journalists employed by advocacy organizations, government agencies, or businesses and trade groups with a financial stake in environmental issues.

Payment and progress

Funds will be paid directly to the journalist(s) and not to your news organization. They may be used to cover any expenses directly related to your reporting, i.e. travel, equipment, time or whatever you need to get the story.

Payment arrives in three installments:

1. Upon selection
2. Midway through the reporting period
3. When the story is complete
    

The recipient is required to submit a brief progress update every six weeks. Barring unforeseen delays beyond the control of the recipient, stories should be completed by early January 2027. An exact schedule will be worked out as part of finalizing the award.

Timeline

Our application portal opens at 1 p.m. Pacific time on May 6, 2026 and submissions are due by 1 p.m. Pacific time on June 2, 2026. To start an application, you must first create an account, which is a simple process. 

The winner will be selected by early July. Good luck!

About the prize

The Knight-Risser prize was created to honor James V. Risser, the longtime director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships. Risser built a career defined by investigative and environmental reporting that earned him two Pulitzer Prizes. The prize carries his name because it carries his values.

It is sponsored by John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships and the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The winning journalist will participate in a symposium at Stanford offering the chance to share the lessons learned from the reporting with students and the broader journalism community.