The Daily from NYT wins RIAS Prize for series on far right in Germany

Katrin Bennhold, Clare Toeniskoetter and a team of journalists at The Daily, a podcast at The New York Times, won the RIAS Media Prize for best digital award in 2022 for their five-part series “Day X” on far-right infiltration in the German military that was aired between May 28 and June 24, 2021. The jury was impressed with the series and praised The Daily team for the “powerful series” of podcasts that also became the basis for a series of articles in The New York Times. Bennhold was the host, while Toeniskoetter was the senior producer along with her fellow senior producers Lynsea Garrison and Kaitlin Roberts. The series was edited by Larissa Anderson and Mike Benoist.

Here’s what the jury said about the series: Making the most of its cutting-edge style of podcast journalism and its profound investigative prowess, The Daily has put together a powerful series of stories that sheds light on a secretive nationwide network of far-right extremists who were operating under the radar inside Germany’s military and police forces. The series of stories that also served as the basis of newspaper articles in The New York Times is a sterling example of outstanding investigative journalism.  

The RIAS Berlin Commission is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The RIAS Media Prize ceremony will be held for the first time since in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the annual awards ceremony in 2020 and 2021. An independent jury of journalists continued to pick winners in the television, radio and digital categories for German-American exchange program.

1, Shadow Army?: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/podcasts/the-daily/day-x-part-1-shadow-army.html

2, In the Stomach: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/podcasts/day-x-franco-a-german-extremism.html

3, Blind Spot 2.0: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/podcasts/day-x-germany-neo-nazi-franco-a.html

4, Franco A: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/podcasts/franco-a-trial-germany-terrorism.html

5, Defensive Democracy: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/podcasts/franco-a-trial-afd-germany.html