Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism
The Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual literary award for "a journalist whose work has brought public attention to important issues", awarded by the New York Public Library. It was established in 1987 in memory of journalist Helen Bernstein, and there is a cash award of $15,000.
Winners
- 1988 – James Reston for fifty years of journalism
- 1989 – Judy Woodruff for television reporting of the Iran–Contra affair
- 1990 – Thomas Friedman for From Beirut to Jerusalem
- 1991 – Nicholas Lemann for The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America
- 1992 – Alex Kotlowitz for '
- 1993 – Samuel Freedman for Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church
- 1994 – David Remnick for '
- 1995 – Joseph Nocera for A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class
- 1996 – Tina Rosenberg for '
- 1997 – David Quammen for The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
- 1998 – Patti Waldmeir for Anatomy of A Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa
- 1999 – Philip Gourevitch for We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda
- 2000 Joint winner: – James Mann for About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton
- 2000 Joint winner: – Patrick Tyler for '
- 2001 – Elaine Sciolino for Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran
- 2002 – Nina Bernstein for The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care
- 2003 – Keith Bradsher for High and Mighty: SUVs--The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way
- 2004 – Dana Priest for The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America’s Military
- 2005 – Jason DeParle for American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare
- 2006 – George Packer for The Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq
- 2007 – Lawrence Wright for '
- 2008 – Charlie Savage for Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy
- 2009 – Jane Mayer for The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
- 2010 – David Finkel for The Good Soldiers
- 2011 – Shane Harris for The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State
- 2012 – Ellen Schultz for Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers
- 2013 – Katherine Boo for Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
- 2014 – Dan Fagin for '
- 2015 – Anand Giridharadas for The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas
- 2016 – Jill Leovy for Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
- 2017 – Jane Mayer for Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
- 2018 – Masha Gessen for The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
- 2019 – Shane Bauer for
- * No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria by Rania Abouzeid
- * The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy by Anna Clark
- * Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold
- * Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America by Beth Macy