• Announcement: Texas Tribune and ProPublica Report on Houston’s Flood Vulnerability Wins 2017 Knight-Risser Prize
• Register for the Knight-Risser Prize Symposium at Stanford: “Houston, You Have a Problem”

“Hell and High Water,” a joint project of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, has won the 2017 Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism. The prize goes to Neena Satija, Ryan Murphy, and Kiah Collier of the Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw and Jeff Larson of ProPublica.

• Articles in the Series
• Main Page
• Boomtown, Flood Town
• About Hell and High Water
• Cornyn Files Bill to Speed Texas Hurricane Study
• Obama signs bill that may boost Texas hurricane protection study

The report looked at the city of Houston and the threat posed to it by hurricanes. Published in late 2016, the report explored a hypothetical storm's potential impact on a low-lying and lightly zoned city, as well as the petrochemical industry located in its port. The exhaustively reported series took on yet more relevance in August 2017, when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston and stalled over it for days, causing extensive flooding.

  READ MORE ABOUT THE WINNING STORY |   REGISTER FOR THE SYMPOSIUM

Special Recognitions

“Toxic Armories”

Rob Davis
The Oregonian/OregonLive

Special Recognition was given to “Toxic Armories,” a series by Oregonian reporter Rob Davis, which examined lead dust pollution from hundreds of National Guard armories from Washington state to Vermont.

• Articles in the Series
• Main Page
• National Guard inaction exposes communities to lead
• Oregon armories earn millions, endanger thousands
• Road to armory records proves long and winding
• Breathing lead at work: Limit is based on 1978 science

“The Toxic Air Latinos Breathe”

Jose Corbella and Clemente Alvarez
Univision Noticias

Judges also gave Special Recognition to “The Toxic Air Latinos Breathe,” a series by Univision Noticias reporters Jose Corbella and Clemente Alvarez, which found that communities with the worst air pollution in the United States are often home to predominantly Hispanic populations.

• Articles in the Series
• Main Page
• A Disney World of pollution in a California town
• Latinos risk health exercising outdoors in south L.A.
• How can Latinos fight asthma within their own homes?