“The Grantham Award of Special Merit was a validation of our newspapers’ extraordinary effort to produce a year-long series of articles on climate change. Our readers knew we had done something special, but the Grantham award announced that these articles had significance well beyond the bounds of our communities.”
Steve Forrester, President of the East Oregonian Publishing Company and Publisher of the Daily Astorian
The integrity and transparency of the Prize selection process are critical to the journalistic credibility of The Grantham Prize. The jurors, individually and collectively, recognize a need on their part to be judicious in avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest in fulfilling their responsibilities.
They will recuse themselves from consideration of individual prize entries where such a conflict may exist. Examples justifying an individual juror's recusal include, but are not limited to, cases involving entries from current or past professional or personal associates or students; from individuals representing interests fairly considered to be partners or competitors; and from those in which the juror has a financial interest.
Jurors are expected to confer openly and early with their fellow jurors concerning any such potential recusals. Consistent with the highest professional standards of journalism ethics, they will err on the side of recusal in “gray” areas potentially raising concerns of a conflict.