TRACE Foundation Announces Recipients of the 2025 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting

ANNAPOLIS, Md., May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The TRACE Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports projects that encourage greater commercial transparency, today announced the winners of the 2025 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting. The annual award and cash prize recognizes journalism that uncovers business bribery or related financial crime.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists won the Prize for their investigative piece, "Caspian Cabals." This deep examination of a multinational oil boondoggle stood out as a clear winner not only for its exceptional quality and meticulous reporting, but also for its global significance. This project underscores a crucial truth: corruption knows no borders, race, or culture - it is a universal issue that is best seen through the widest lens possible.

Elijah Kanyi and Cynthia Gichiri also won for their riveting documentary, "Fertile Deception," a remarkably complete dissection of a shocking act of corporate deceit in Kenya: the widespread sale and distribution of counterfeit fertilizer during a period of great stress for Kenyan agriculture. The investigative methods were impeccable. Whistleblower accounts were verified with film footage, the suspect product was analyzed in credible laboratories, the corporate paper trail was carefully documented, and - most importantly - the human impact was compellingly shown.

An honorable mention went to Gloria Pallares for her piece, "False Claims of UN Backing See Indigenous Groups Cede Forest Rights for Sketchy Finance," which exposes how a broad cast of characters - from local figures to international entities - can collude to deprive indigenous peoples of their land in precious ecosystems. The story deserves mention as a singular contribution to our understanding of how financial innovations that put a capital value on natural resources can abet the exploitation of vulnerable populations and give rise to "greenwashing" ventures that, while offered as solutions, lack both transparency and accountability.

A second honorable mention went to Philip Teye Agbove and Justice Baidoo for their documentary, "Death and Brutality: The Battle for West Africa's Largest Salt Deposit," which was produced under difficult and dangerous circumstances. The journalists faced not only the challenges of digging up corruption at the heart of leases to West African salt deposits, but repeatedly faced surveillance, death threats, disinformation, and legal threats. The jury felt this brave work of investigative reporting deserved to be honored.

This year's judging panel included Diana B. Henriques, William Gumede, Rosebell Kagumire, Peter Klein, Jorge Luis Sierra, and Amjad Tadros.

To hear from the 2025 honorees, please click here.

SOURCE TRACE International