The Imprint is an independent daily news outlet focused on the nation’s child welfare and youth justice systems. Since 2013, Imprint reporters have produced rigorous, in-depth reporting on the courts that process these children, youth and families; the agencies paid to serve them; and the housing, economic, mental health and educational issues they face.
The Imprint is a publication of Fostering Media Connections (FMC), a nonprofit organization that uses the power of media and journalism to lead the conversation about children, youth and families in America.
The Imprint, its staff and correspondents have won numerous awards over the years, including the these recent honors:
2025
Journalist of the Year, Public Children Services Association of Ohio
| The Imprint
INN Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism
| Medicated in Foster Care: Who’s Looking Out? Series By Imprint staff writers Michael Fitzgerald, Jeremy Loudenback and Susanti Sarkar
American Society of Journalists and Authors Excellence in Reporting
| New York Set Out to Keep Half of All Foster Youth With Family. Some Counties Still Fall Far Short of That Urgent Goal By Imprint contributing writer Steven Yoder
USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Data Fellowship
| Sara Tiano, Imprint senior national child welfare reporter
Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Honorable Mention
| Penalized for Their Prescriptions Series By Sara Tiano
Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism First Place Award
| Medicated in Foster Care: Who’s Looking Out? Series By Michael Fitzgerald, Jeremy Loudenback and Susanti Sarkar
2024
Indigenous Journalist Association Excellence in Beat Reporting 1st place
| Indigenous children and families reporter Nancy Marie Spears
Indigenous Journalist Association Best Feature Story 2nd place
| Protecting Children and Healing Families, One Native Auntie at a Time By Nancy Marie Spears
Indigenous Journalist Association Best Two-Spirit Coverage 3rd Place
| Born of History Series By Nancy Marie Spears
INN Breaking Barriers Award 1st Place
| ELDERS: Uncle John, co-published with Voices of Monterey Bay. By Julie Reynolds, Nancy Marie Spears and journalist Mara J. Reynolds
INN Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism Finalist
| Fighting for Kin Series By Sara Tiano
INN Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism Finalist
| Road Atlas: Women Healing Trauma in the Nomad West, co-published with Voices of Monterey Bay. By Julie Reynolds
The Society of Professional Journalists Northern California, Features Journalism 1st Place
| Road Atlas: Women Healing Trauma in the Nomad West, co-published with Voices of Monterey Bay. By Julie Reynolds
Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Award 1st Place
| High Stakes, Silent Systems Series By Michael Fitzgerald
Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Award Honorable Mention
| Fighting for Kin Series By Sara Tiano
Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism Award Honorable Mention
| Born of History By Nancy Marie Spears
2023
Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Awards Illustration, 2nd place
| The Foster Care System Turns to Big Data: Promising or Profiling? By Christine Ongjoco
INN Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism
| The Darkest Part of the Tunnel: Juvenile Justice Reimagined, by Nell Bernstein
ONA Online Journalism Award for Topical Reporting: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Identity, Finalist
| High Stakes, Silent Systems: Foster Care’s Missing Policies For Sexual and Reproductive Health, by Michael Fitzgerald
INN Breaking Barriers Award
| AFTER LIFE: The untold story of how a group of incarcerated men reshaped rehabilitation in California, co-published with Voices of Monterey Bay. By Julie Reynolds, Gilbert Bao and Mara J. Reynolds
Media for a Just Society Awards, Finalist, podcast/radio
| AFTER LIFE, co-published with Voices of Monterey Bay. By Julie Reynolds, Gilbert Bao and Mara J. Reynolds
Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Young Journalist of the Year Honorable Mention
| Farrah Mina, Imprint Minnesota child welfare reporter