Feb. 17, 2025 – NBC News has won the prestigious 2024 George Polk National Television Reporting Award for the enterprise team’s investigation, “Dealing the Dead.”
The multi-part NBCNews.com series, in collaboration with NBC Nightly News and Noticias Telemundo, revealed how unclaimed bodies were dissected and leased out for medical research without people’s consent or their families’ knowledge. As a result of the investigation, families received closure, officials implemented sweeping changes and lawmakers vowed to introduce state legislation.
The 2024 George Polk Awards announcement notes, “the medical school ended the practice after reporters shared detailed findings ahead of their reports on NBC Nightly News and NBCNews.com.”
“We are so proud of our team, which has been relentless in its search for the hidden truth, poring over thousands of pages of documents, emails and data obtained through hard-fought public records requests. Because of their tenacity, these injustices have finally been revealed and have provided families of the victims some long overdue answers,” said Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News President of Editorial.
Mike Hixenbaugh, Jon Schuppe, Liz Kreutz and the late Susan Carroll are the recipients of the award, led by managing editor Julie Shapiro and senior producer Michelle Melnick. Reporters included Anagilmara Vilchez of Noticias Telemundo and Tyler Kingkade of NBCNews.com, and producers included Alexa Keyes and Mary Godie of NBC Nightly News.
The George Polk Awards were established in 1949 by Long Island University to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. The awards, which place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results, are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism. The latest winners were selected from 493 submissions of work that appeared in print, online or on television or radio.
NBC News’ “Dealing the Dead” investigation was also named a finalist for the 2025 ASME National Magazine Awards this past week. The distinguished National Magazine Awards are sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The multi-part “Dealing the Dead” investigation can be read here on NBCNews.com. View the full list of winners for the 2024 George Polk Awards here.
NBC News is the #1 news organization in the U.S., reaching 137 million Americans monthly across television, streaming and digital in 2024, according to Comscore Xmedia, driven by over 825 exclusive interviews, political and investigative scoops and first-to-reports.
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Claudia Meyer-Samargia
