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Recognizing a select group of media professionals, including journalists, writers, and others who create exemplary work that contributes to a deeper understanding of and greater public awareness about mental health issues.

The news of the day is infused with issues that affect mental health–social justice, climate change, strength and resilience in the face of COVID-19, access to healthcare, or any number of other topics. We want to recognize the very best work with our media prize.

The prize carries an award of $3,000 and will be presented at an event where the honoree (or honorees) are invited to speak about their work.

The prize is juried by a committee of Riggs clinicians and Trustees who will consider the work of candidates nominated by their peers as well as unsolicited nominations.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible, work must have been written in English, intended for the layperson, and must have been first published/released after April 1, 2022. The deadline for 2023 submissions is April 15, 2023.

Entries may be submitted online in the form below. Entries published in any of the following categories are eligible:

Newspapers and newspaper websites
Magazines and magazine websites
Online-only news publications
Network and nationally distributed cable programs
Small, medium and major market television stations
Independent productions and films
Local and national radio
Web-based productions
Commentary and Opinion
Longform Reporting (series or lengthy articles or broadcasts)
Books

Please note: If submitting your own work for consideration, please make sure the publisher (if applicable) would allow you to accept an award from the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center.

You may also download the submission form and mail entries to:

Austen Riggs Center
Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media
c/o Aaron M. Beatty, Communications Officer
25 Main Street
Stockbridge, MA 01262

Past Media Prize Recipients

Below is a list of prize recipients by year.

2022

Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer received the 2022 prize for their acclaimed documentary CURED.

2021

Margie Friedman and Barbara Multer-Wellin received the 2021 prize for their documentary, Orchestrating Change.

2020

Hannah Dreier received the 2020 prize for her Washington Post piece "Trust and Consequences."

2019

There were two prize recipients in 2019:

Kiese Laymon for his book Heavy

Stephen L. Garrett, Christopher McDonough, Kelsey Arbuckle, and Alexa Fults for their documentary Mine 21

2018

There were two prize recipients in 2018:

John Green for his book Turtles All the Way Down

NPR's Hidden Brain hosted by Shankar Vedantam and produced by Tara Boyle

2017

The 2017 recipient was the Boston Globe Spotlight Team (Maria Cramer, Scott Helman, Michael Rezendes, Jenna Russell, Todd Wallack, Scott Allen, and Anica Butler) for their piece “The San Antonio Way: How one Texas city took on mental health as a community – and became a national model."

2016

There were three prize recipients in 2016:

Benedict Carey, a science reporter at the New York Times

Neal Shusterman, a novelist, screenwriter, and television writer

Steve Silberman, a science wrtier

2015

There were three prize recipients in 2015:

Alison Bechdel, a cartoonist / memoirist

Stephanie McCrummen, a reporter for the Washington Post

William Todd Schultz, a psychobiography writer / editor

2014

There were three prize recipients in 2014: