2025 Podcast (All Newsroom Sizes) Winners

About the Winners:

At least 26 states have passed new reading laws since “Sold a Story” premiered in 2022. This sweeping impact stems from the investigation at the podcast’s core: an in-depth examination of how an unproven idea about how children learn to read took hold and harmed generations of students. 

The original investigation uncovered a national failure. In 2025, the reporting team focused on a success story: Steubenville, a poor city in eastern Ohio where nearly every child becomes a good reader.

Comments From the Judges:

“A terrific public service follow-up to earlier journalism in this podcast series; ‘solutions’ journalism done right — shows a solution not through rose-colored glasses but with lots of nuance. Excellent blend of authoritative hosting by Emily Hanford alongside classroom and school tape and interviews. Offered something original in education reporting, good summation of history.”

“The audio craft here was exceptional. Following the arc of the program — from classroom instruction to policy debate — felt immersive and deliberate. Hearing the children themselves, listening to how they were actually being taught, grounded the reporting in something tangible. The series handled a complicated subject — the science of reading, persistent myths about which students can succeed and the resources required to do it well — with clarity and depth. It was reported with rigor and produced with intention — I felt this was a masterful use of information and audio.”

Photo credits: Courtesy of American Public Media | APM Reports