Moody College announces winners of 2026 Dan Rather Medals

Journalists who showed courage in the pursuit of informing the public were recognized Monday, April 13, as winners of the Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts, awarded annually by the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas Moody College of Communication.

Ian Urbina, podcast host and executive editor of the Outlaw Ocean Project, won the professional division Rather Medal for a series of podcast episodes taking listeners into the dangerous world of immigration enforcement off the coast of Libya.

The Indiana Daily Student’s co-editors, Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz, won the Rather Medal for student media for leading their newspaper’s reporting and fight against interference by their university administration.

The winners will receive $5,000 from the Dan Rather Medals, created in 2020 by UT’s Moody College of Communication with Rather’s guidance to honor courageous journalism and to encourage reporters to pursue difficult but necessary stories. Rather, a Texas native who started his journalism career in 1950 in Texas, anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1981 to 2005, and serves as a permanent member of Moody College’s Advisory Council.

“This year’s winners displayed true courage and dedication in telling their stories and carrying out their mission,” Rather said. “Congratulations to these deserving journalists, and thanks to all who entered their work this year. Journalism remains in good hands with advocates like these.”

The Outlaw Ocean Project, which says it reports from the “most lawless place on Earth,” was recognized for three episodes in its second season illuminating Libya’s shadowy and sometimes deadly role in controlling migration from Africa to Europe. The podcast includes a harrowing account of Urbina and his team being captured and held by Libyan security forces as they sought to tell the story of migrants who died trying to make the journey to Europe.

“Outlaw Ocean continues to be among the world's most daring and committed journalistic crews, even in the face of kidnap and potential torture,” said one member of the Rather Medals judging panel. “It doesn't get much gutsier than reporting on notorious secret prisons and holding up the humanity of migrants being abused and disappeared.”

The student journalists at the Indiana Daily Student were recognized for their fight for journalistic independence in the face of Indiana University’s efforts to censor their news coverage in print and to fire their student media director. Their pushback against the administration galvanized support and national attention and resulted in a reversal of the university’s actions.

“These journalists did an incredible job at documenting how the university attempted to censor their reporting, without fear or favor,” one of the Rather Medals judges said. “They kept on the story despite pressure from the university. The Indiana Daily Student reports are exactly what the Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts should be recognizing.”

Nominations open Jan. 1, 2027 for the next Rather Medals, recognizing work being done in 2026.

Contact: John Bridges, journalism lecturer and Rather Medals administrator, johnbridges@utexas.edu