ANN ARBOR—The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the University of Michigan have selected the 2016 finalists in local, national and international reporting.

The finalists, who represent the top 10 percent of entries received, will move to the final round of judging. The awards honor the best professionals under the age of 35 in traditional and new forms of journalism.

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and U-M to support a new emphasis on digital media efforts, the program continues to see an increase in digital submissions, with a 20 percent increase in digital entries over last year. Since the funding initiative began three years ago, digital entries increased 170 percent and overall entries increased 65 percent.

The Livingston Awards national judging panel reviews all final entries and meets in person to select the winners in local, national and international reporting. The national judges are Christiane Amanpour, host of CNN International’s “Amanpour” and chief international correspondent for CNN; Ken Auletta, media and communications writer for The New Yorker; Dean Baquet, executive editor, The New York Times; Ellen Goodman, author, co-founder and director of The Conversation Project; John Harris, editor-in-chief, POLITICO; Clarence Page, syndicated columnist; Anna Quindlen, author; and Kara Swisher, executive editor, Re/code, host of Re/code Decode podcast and co-executive producer of Code Conference.

“Being named a finalist signifies high achievement and the promise of more and even better things to come,” said Charles Eisendrath, Livingston Awards founding director. “Each year, the judging process begins with a reading out of the names, titles and subjects of this fine work. Then follows a discussion among the judges that I consider the best seminar of the year about the ingredients of great journalism, no matter in which branch of the media.”

The national judges will introduce the winners on June 8, 2016, at a New York City luncheon.

Following are the 2016 finalists.

International Reporting:
Jake Abrahamson, Sierra Magazine; Adrian Chen, The New York Times Magazine; Joseph Goldstein, The New York Times; Brooke Jarvis, The California Sunday Magazine; Azmat Khan, BuzzFeed News; Natasha Khan and Hui Li, Bloomberg News; Simon Ostrovsky, VICE News; Jennifer Percy, The New York Times Magazine; J. Weston Phippen, The Atlantic; Scott Sayare, Harper’s Magazine; Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post; Christian Stephen, Freelance Society Productions; Alice Su, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and The Atlantic.

National Reporting:
Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker; Mike Baker and Daniel Wagner, The Seattle Times, The Center for Public Integrity and BuzzFeed News; Caitlin Dickerson, NPR; Catherine Dunn, International Business Times; Robert Faturechi, ProPublica; David Ferry, Mother Jones; Alissa Figueroa and Connie Fossi, Fusion Network; Azeen Ghorayshi, BuzzFeed News; Dana Goldstein, The Marshall Project in partnership with Slate; Michael Grabell and Lena Groeger, ProPublica; Lindsey Konkel, Newsweek; Jeff Larson, ProPublica; Dana Liebelson, The Huffington Post; Dan Lieberman, Fusion Network; Rachel Monroe, Matter; Tricia L. Nadolny, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Anahad O’Connor, The New York Times; Steve Reilly, USA Today; Alysia Santo, The Marshall Project; Eli Saslow, The Washington Post; Joseph Walker, The Wall Street Journal.

Local Reporting:
Jonathan Blitzer, The Oxford American; Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press; Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun; Jessica Floum, Sarasota Herald Tribune; Gus Garcia-Roberts, Newsday (Long Island, NY); Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post; Mike Hixenbaugh and Jason Paladino, The Virginian-Pilot in partnership with the Investigative Reporting Program and NBC News; Mirela Iverac, WNYC Radio; Marisa Kashino, Washingtonian; Charlotte Keith, Investigative Post; Michael LaForgia, Nathaniel Lash and Lisa Gartner, Tampa Bay Times; J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez, Austin American-Statesman; Jonah Newman, The Chicago Reporter; Cezary Podkul and Marcelo Rochabrun, ProPublica; Brian Rosenthal, Houston Chronicle; Lindsey Smith, Michigan Radio; Halle Stockton and Alexandra Kanik, PublicSource; Perla Trevizo, Fernanda Echavarri and Mike Christy, Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Public Media; Alexandra Zayas and Kameel Stanley, Tampa Bay Times.

About The Livingston Awards:
The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists are the most prestigious honor for professional journalists under the age of 35 and are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in American journalism. Entries from print, broadcast and online journalism are judged against one another as technology blurs distinctions between branches of the traditoonal platforms. The $10,000 prizes, awarded annually for local, national and international reporting, are sponsored by the University of Michigan, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Indian Trail Charitable Foundation. The Livingston Awards are administered by Wallace House at the University of Michigan, home to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists. Learn more at wallacehouse.umich.edu/Livingston-awards

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation:
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more information, visit knightfoundation.org.