The Atlanta Journal-Constitution won several national and local-level accolades for its reporting from the past year, including a public service honor reserved for the nation’s largest media organizations for its investigation into dysfunction and corruption in Georgia’s prison system.

The National Headliner Awards, one of the oldest annual contests recognizing journalism, awarded investigative reporters Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins first place in public service for “Hidden Homicides: Silence, chaos and secrecy inside the Georgia prison system.” The judges called the series “a tour de force in reporting that shamed public officials and forced real change.”

“The deadly conditions in Georgia’s prisons had been largely unknown to the public and had been inadequately addressed by the state until Carrie and Danny brought the pervasive violence prison staff and inmates lived under to light,” said Leroy Chapman, editor-in-chief of the AJC. “This work saved lives.”

Education columnist Maureen Downey and multimedia journalist Fraser Jones were also awarded for their work. Downey took home second place for newspapers special or feature column on one subject for her work addressing federal, state and local education policy. Jones won third place for news video segments between 10 to 30 minutes for his video documenting the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. The video, posted in October, documented his efforts to reunite with his mom and chronicled the destruction in the storm’s aftermath, and has since amassed 1.5 million views on YouTube.

At the Atlanta Press Club’s 2025 Awards of Excellence ceremony on Tuesday night, the AJC won several awards. The six works recognized with top honors in their categories are:

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution returned to the city with offices in Midtown after years in the suburbs. (AJC staff)

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have made roughly 3.6 times more arrests in Georgia in the first six months of President Donald Trump's term as they did during thelast six months of Joe Biden's presidency. (Phil Robibero/AJC)

Credit: Photo Illustration: Philip Robibero / AJC | Source: Getty, Open Street Map