Trailers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center on October 1, 2019, Fresno, California. Credit: Photo by Paul Kuroda

The Gerald Loeb Awards has recognized Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX for their investigation into the injury crisis at Amazon’s warehouses, Behind the Smiles, with one of its 12 journalism awards. 

The Loeb Awards, administered by the University of California, Los Angeles’ Anderson School of Management, recognize “the work of journalists whose contributions illuminate the world of business, finance and the economy for readers and viewers worldwide.” 

Reveal won in the audio category. Other winners included The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and ProPublica. 

The investigation relied on internal documents, interviews with current and former Amazon workers, 911 call recordings and a government whistleblower to show how Amazon’s obsession with speed had turned its warehouses into injury mills. It also showed how, after a worker died in an Indiana warehouse, top leaders in the state government eliminated sanctions against the company, just as they were trying to lure the company’s second headquarters to the state.

The investigation has already been honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors in its audio category and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. 

(Listen to, read or watch the original investigation.)

Earlier this year, Reveal released a second installment based on leaked internal company documents showing how the company hit its injury crisis from the public, press and lawmakers. 

(Listen to, read or watch the second installment.)

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