The Student Press Law Center and the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project are proud to honor Western Kentucky University student journalist Anthony Clauson with the 2026 Freedom of Information Award. Four other reporting teams are recognized as finalists.
Clauson, of the College Heights Herald, used public records as part of an investigation into WKU’s closure of its three newest dorms that housed more than 1,000 students, uncovering significant engineering and construction issues and safety and building code violations that the university had not explained to residents.
The university abruptly closed one dorm in February 2024, citing only shifting masonry, and closed two more in May 2025 for a year for “code-related repairs.” The buildings cost a combined $88 million and had opened in 2018 and 2021.
Clauson filed public records requests with the university and state entities and the Student Life Foundation, the nonprofit that previously owned student housing at WKU. The documents he received — including forensic engineering reports, meeting minutes and contracts — revealed poor construction and structural concerns for the dormitories. They also detailed the unique structure and operations of the university-affiliated nonprofit that was responsible for overseeing construction.
Clauson and the Herald published the only in-depth investigation into the dorms’ closures, and it saw significant student and community interest. Following that, he continued to report on the university’s shift to a new housing partner, the demolition of one dorm and repairs to the other two, which contracts revealed cost more than it did to build them. The reporting is ongoing.
“Student journalists are often the only ones asking hard questions about what happens on their campuses, and public records are often the only way to find those answers, especially when administrations opt for secrecy over transparency,” said Gary Green, Student Press Law Center executive director. “Clauson’s investigation stands out for how far he pushed past the university’s initial explanations. Every finalist this year showed that same determination, and we’re proud to honor their tenacious reporting.”
The honor was announced Nov. 7 at the National College Media Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Clauson and the Herald will split a $2,000 prize, sponsored by the Brechner FOI Project at the University of Florida.
“This goes to show that public records, along with tenacity and dedication, serve as the foundation of amazing investigative reporting on college campuses,” said David Cuillier, Brechner FOI Project director.
“I am profoundly grateful to be selected for this award,” Clauson said. “My goal with my reporting is simply to promote accountability and transparency. Thankfully, Kentucky’s open records laws helped make that possible. This award highlights just how important freedom of information is, and I am honored to have my work as an example of the power of that freedom.”
Finalists
Four other reporting teams are also recognized as finalists for the 2026 Student Freedom of Information Award for their outstanding public records reporting.
Olivia Lee and Caden Dyer at the University of Tennessee
After a professor was fired for her online statements following Charlie Kirk’s death, Lee and Dyer obtained and sifted through more than 3,000 pages of emails, text messages and other records to report how administrators handled the public “firestorm.”
After persistently following up on their records requests and ignoring pressure from the university to drop the story, their investigation for The Daily Beacon allowed them to compare the university’s quick decision to fire the professor to how university policies say those decisions should be made. Their reporting contributed significantly to debates about academic freedom — on campus, in Tennessee and across the country.
Jackson Woodward, Ajith Araiza-Singh and Brendan Raykoff at the University of California, Berkeley
The night before a Turning Point USA event was scheduled for campus in November 2025, four protesters were arrested for felony vandalism on Berkeley’s campus. The reporters for The Daily Californian witnessed part of the arrests and broke the news. In interviews with The Daily Cal after their charges were rejected by prosecutors, the protesters — current and former students — raised concerns about their mistreatment, so reporters dug deeper to obtain the police report and letters between the Internal Affairs Bureau and Police Chief.
When the University of California Police Department provided the relevant body camera footage in an format that was not downloadable and would expire in seven days, Woodward, Araiza-Singh and Raykoff developed a way to scrape it frame-by-frame so they could make it publicly available. They then compiled clips to share with legal experts, who told the Daily Cal that the videos raised questions about the legality and appropriateness of the arresting officer’s conduct.
Joshua Levin at the University of Massachusetts Boston
When the university hosted an invite-only climate resilience summit with high-profile attendees, students had a lot of questions — including who paid for the event the university said was sponsored by the Vatican. The Mass Media did not receive credentials to cover it or answers to its questions, so Levin turned to public records.
Levin faced resistance from the school, but he persistently filed administrative appeals for a year when requests went unfulfilled and unanswered. The state’s Supervisor of Records ordered the university to hand over multiple records. Levin eventually succeeded in receiving a treasure trove of information, including event invoices, police timesheets, space reservations and over 2,000 emails. Among other important details, those records revealed that the university made more than $300,000 in payments to a Vatican-linked bank account related to the event.
Kairi Lowery, Jack Jankowski, Alanna Robbert, Alissa Gary, Zoey Thomas and Lee Ann Anderson at the University of Florida
The team of students analyzed 1.5 million records and nearly 100 court cases — and traveled more than a thousand miles — to investigate how some Florida Lottery players “beat baffling odds” to win repeatedly. With the help of statisticians, their analysis found that, since 2015, about 70 people have won 100 or more times, about a half dozen won 200 or more times and one person won more than 300 times.
For their multi-part “Too Lucky To Ignore?” investigation, they reviewed data regarding scratch-off lottery sales and winners spanning from 2015 to 2025. They uncovered multiple methods these winners used, including some store owners — among the state’s most prolific winners — who told unsuspecting players they didn’t win, then cashed the winning tickets themselves or gave them to a family member to claim. Some clerks scratched unsold tickets’ barcode just enough to scan it and keep the winners.
The series was published by WUFT and Fresh Take Florida, a student-driven news service operated by the UF College of Journalism and Communications, and republished by several major outlets across Florida.
About the Award
The Student Freedom of Information Award recognizes a student journalist or team of journalists for outstanding and tenacious use of public records in reporting that promotes transparency and brings important issues to light in their school or community. SPLC presents the honor in partnership with the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, which provides a $2,000 prize to the college winner.
This year’s winner and finalists were selected from a competitive group of nominations by a committee of experts on public records and reporting, including Matt Drange, investigative reporter and journalism instructor at Laney College, and Nate Jones, Washington Post FOIA director. The Brechner FOI Project and SPLC, which assisted several of the nominees, played no role in the judging process.