Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney Announce $10,000 Prize for Young Citizen Journalists to Break Stories ‘Everyone Else Missed’

Award-winning journalists and filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney announced the creation of a $10,000 prize for young citizen journalists who pursue truth and uncover groundbreaking stories.

The married couple, who wrote a play about the horrific October 7 terrorist attacks and produced the film My Son Hunter, among other highly influential investigative works, announced the Shillman Journalism Prize through their organization, the Unreported Story Society. The pair are looking for a story “the mainstream media won’t tell.” 

“You don’t need us to tell you something is broken. Every day, too many real stories of real importance are ignored, because they don’t fit the ‘narrative.’ Or the stories are misreported to hide the truth,” the award website reads. “But journalism no longer belongs to legacy newsrooms.”

“The future stories that will shape our country are emerging from new spaces. They come from students, citizens, and independent writers who are hungry for the truth. And are willing to do the work. The Shillman Journalism Prize exists to find these stories … and the people bold enough to tell them,” the announcement continues.

The Shillman Prize, which is funded by a grant from Doctor Bob Shillman and The Shillman Foundation, is open to people under the age of 25 who are not employed full-time as a journalist and are living legally in the U.S.

Contestants may submit original reporting — not an opinion piece — to the prize website. After the submission window closes, an expert panel will select the top ten submissions, and the stories will be published to Substack. Then, the public will vote on the winners.

First prize receives $10,000, followed by $5,000 for second place, and $2,500 for third place.

“We want a story that hasn’t been told, or hasn’t been told properly — the kind of story that is often sitting right on your doorstep, in your town, or in your state,” McAleer wrote in a post to Substack. 

“You don’t need to travel to exotic locations. The best stories are frequently the ones closest to home. You can dig up documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Or, more often than not, the key documents are already publicly available — it’s just that mainstream journalists often choose to ignore them because the story doesn’t fit the narrative they want,” he continued. “Or maybe you know someone — a neighbour, a relative, a local official, a whistleblower — who has a story the rest of the country needs to hear. A powerful interview can win this prize.” 

“We’re not asking you to put your life on the line. We’re simply asking you to be nosy. To ask awkward questions. To cause a bit of trouble with the truth,” he added. “If you’re under 25 and you think you’ve found the story everyone else missed — or the one the media actively wants covered up — this is your moment.”

Timeline for the prize is:

• September 8 – December 31, 2026: Submissions open
• January 1 – January 31, 2027: Expert panel review period
• February 1, 2027: Top 10 Publishing date
• February 1 – February 21, 2027: Public Voting period

The top prize will be announced in spring of 2027. Full contest rules can be read here. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.