The Marshall Project, along with St. Louis Public Radio and APM Reports, has been honored with a 2025 Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. The award recognizes contributions to open government and transparency.
The winning project — “Unsolved” — was led by reporters Rachel Lippmann (St. Louis Public Radio), Tom Scheck (APM Reports), Jennifer Lu (APM Reports), Brian Munoz (St. Louis Public Radio), and Alysia Santo (The Marshall Project). The team conducted a years-long investigation into why the St. Louis police department has struggled to solve homicides.
“This honor recognizes the tenacity of these reporting teams, and the power of collaboration,” said Geraldine Sealey, acting Editor-in-Chief of The Marshall Project. “We’re grateful to the judges, as well as to our media partners and collaborators, for helping to shine a light on the deep, searing community impacts of unsolved homicides and their victims.”
The multipart investigation explored why, throughout a decade in St. Louis, 1,000 homicides went unsolved — and how staff shortages, shoddy detective work and lack of community trust have hindered the department’s ability to resolve these cases and bring closure to loved ones.
Through persistent records requests, litigation, and meticulous data analysis, the reporters uncovered systemic failures in homicide investigations and racial disparities in clearance rates. Their work not only held police accountable but also made critical data publicly available for the first time in years.
The “Unsolved” series included five digital stories, four radio pieces, a photo essay, and a video segment for The Marshall Project’s Inside Story. The investigation revealed that, over a decade, detectives solved less than half of the city’s homicides and disproportionately cleared cases involving White victims. The reporting also exposed deep problems inside the homicide division, including staffing shortages, turnover, and tolerance of detectives with troubling track records.
The award is given annually by SPJ to individuals and organizations for “making important contributions in the area of open government.” Read more from SPJ here.
The series has previously won a number of awards, including the Brechner Freedom of Information Award, Journalism Collaboration of the Year from the Institute for Nonprofit News, and the Excellence in Collaboration award from the Online News Association.
