Announcing the Sigma Awards 2025 Shortlist

50 data journalism projects from 24 countries made it to the final round of the competition.

As the new hosts of the competition that celebrates the best data journalism from around the world, we at the Global Investigative Journalism Network are delighted to announce the shortlist of this year’s Sigma Awards.

At the start of 2025, we received submissions of 498 data journalism projects from dozens of countries and six regions. These entries represent the incredible work done by hundreds of journalists worldwide throughout last year. Our jury, made up of 19 international experts, then went through all the data and selected 50 outstanding entries, so we can now reveal to you the shortlist for the Sigma Awards 2025 competition.

The projects sent to the Sigma Awards help us compile the best data journalism from around the world, so we’d like to thank all participants for taking part. We will be announcing the winners of the Sigma Awards 2025 in the week of May 19 – 23, but for now, congratulations to all the teams, freelancers, nonprofits, and great representatives of the international data community, who made it to the 2025 shortlist.

Below is the list of entries shortlisted for the Sigma Awards 2025 competition, separated into the two submission categories.

Project (37 finalists)

• Interoceanic Corridor: A Story of Imposition, Dispossession, and Violence — El Universal, Pulitzer Center, Palabra (Mexico)
• Broken Track — Army Times (US)
• 40 Acres and a Lie — Center for Public Integrity, Reveal, Mother Jones (US)
• The Climate-friendly Virgin in Terengganu — Macranga Media (Malaysia)
• Paiporta bajo el agua (Paiporta Underwater) — El País (Spain)
• How War Destroyed Gaza’s Neighborhoods — the Guardian (UK)
• Crowdsourcing Rideshare Driver Lockouts — Bloomberg News (US)
• Almost 200 Russian Ships Suspected of Spying in the North Sea — Follow the Money, De Tijd (Netherlands)
• Declaraciones Juradas de Funcionarios Dominicanos (Affidavits of Dominican Officials) — Diario Libre (Dominican Republic)
• Gaza Lives: Resisting Cultural Genocide — The Kontinentalist, Visualizing Palestine (Singapore)
• Dubai Unlocked — Africa Uncensored, Al Jazeera, AZDA TV, Belarusian Investigative Center, BIRD, Buro Media, Civilnet, Context Investigative Reporting Project Romania, Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network, DARAJ, Dawn, De Groene Amsterdammer, Delfi, Der Spiegel, Der Standard, De Tijd, Diario Rombe, Direkt36, Economy Post, Expresso, Etilaat Roz, El Universal, E24, Forbes, Frontier Myanmar, Frontstory.pl/Reporters Foundation, Government Accountability Project, InfoLibre, Inside Story, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Investico, investigace.cz, Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak, Investigative Reporting Lab – IRL, IrpiMedia, iStories, Knack, Korea Center for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ)-Newstapa, KRIK, Le Monde, Le Soir, Lighthouse Reports, Malaysiakini, Malta Today, Mikroskop Media, NIRIJ, OCCRP, Oštro, Paper Trail Media, Reporter.lu, Schemes (RFE/RL Ukrainian service), Siena, Shomrim, SIRAJ, Slidstvo.Info, Straits Times, SVT, Tempo, The Age, The Confluence Media, The Irish Times, The News International Pakistan, The Nikkei, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Times, Times of Malta, Twala, VG, Vlast, Yle, Zamaneh Media, ZDF
• Inequality Before the Law — NRK Graveredaksjonen Sørøst, Lighthouse Reports (Norway)
• Migrant Pushbacks by Greek Coast Guards — ARTE.tv (France)
• Poison in the Tap: A Journey Through Spain Without Access to Safe Drinking Water — DATADISTA, elDiario.es (Spain)
• Ireland’s Data Centres Turning to Fossil Fuels After Maxing Out Country’s Electricity Grid — The Journal Investigates (Ireland)
• Votar Entre Balas — Data Cívica, Animal Politico, México Evalúa, (Mexico)
• Drownings and Deterrence in the Rio Grande — Lighthouse Reports, The Washington Post, El Universal 
• Parcourez les Obstacles de L’électrification des Transports (Navigate the Obstacles of Transport Electrification) —  Radio-Canada (Canada)
• Misplaced Trust — Grist, High Country News (US)
• Without Justice – How Eswatini’s System Is Failing Victims of Gender-Based Violence — Center for Collaborative Journalism (US)
• Carousel of Emotions — Texty.org.ua (Ukraine)
• Série de Reportagens Lobby na Comida — Agrotóxicos (Food Lobbying Reporting Series — Pesticides) — O Joio e O Trigo, Agência Fiquem Sabendo (Brazil)
• Under the Surface. 300 Contaminants in our Groundwater — Le Monde, DATADISTA, De Staandard, Investico, Facta, Dagbladet Information, Reporters United, Arena for Journalism in Europe, Journalism Fund (France)
• Automated Censorship — The Markup (US)
• Death Flights: Indigenous Leaders Murdered in a Territory Invaded by 67 Drug Trafficking Routes — Mongabay Latam, Earth Genome, Pulitzer Center (Peru)
• Buildings Wrapped in Solid Gasoline — Reuters (Singapore)
• Shadows of Poverty: The Days and Nights of Destitute Elders — KBS, KT, VWL, Seoul National University (South Korea)
• World of Pain — Paper Trail Media, The Examination, The Washington Post, Finance Uncovered, Der Spiegel, ZDF, Der Standard, Tamedia, Metrópoles, IPRI Media
• 花蓮震後追蹤：太魯閣如何重建? (Hualien Post-Earthquake Follow-up: How to Rebuild Taroko?) — CW (Taiwan)
• Труженики тыла. Вопреки заявлениям, Тайвань стал главным поставщиком станков для российского ВПК (Home Front Workers: Contrary to Claims, Taiwan Has Become the Main Supplier of Machine Tools for the Russian Military-Industrial Complex) — The Insider, The (Taiwan) Reporter, (Russia)
• The Price of Bakhmut. Staggering Toll of Russia’s Bloodiest Battle Since WW2 and Wagner’s Inmates Recruited to Fight It — Mediazona, BBC News Russian (Russia)
• Unpacking Right-wing Rhetoric: What Data Reveals About Milei’s Discourse — La Nacion (Argentina)
• Energy Transition Creates a Race for Strategic Minerals with 5,000 Applications in the Amazon — InfoAmazonia (Brazil)
• Dorada Opacidad (Golden Opacity) — Convoca, Repórter Brasil, Plan V, Consejo de Redacción, Rutas del Conflicto, Armando.Info, Runrunes, El Pitazo, Tal Cual (Peru)
• Las Rutas Del Oro Sucio (The Routes of the Dirty Gold) — OjoPúblico, El Espectador, Sumaúma, Vistazo, El Deber (Peru)
• Terranexus Durán. Las Conexiones Detrás del Rráfico de Rierras en la Bodega de la Droga de Ecuador (Terranexus Durán: The Connections Behind Land Trafficking in Ecuador’s Drug Warehouse) — Unidad de Investigación Tierra de Nadie, CONNECTAS (Ecuador)

Portfolio Category (13 finalists)

• The Pudding (US)
• Financial Times (UK)
• South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
•  الإعلامية الفلسطينية المستقلة [Independent Palestinian media] (Palestinian Territories)
• Salud con Lupa (Peru)
• Der Spiegel (Germany)
• ElDiario.es (Spain)
• Reuters (Singapore)
• Zeit Online (Germany)
• La Nacion (Argentina)
• Al Jazeera (Qatar)
• 天下雜誌 [World Magazine] (Taiwan)
• The Marshall Project (US)