Rukeyser Reporting Grants Winners
Sam Kimball
H.L. STEVENSON GRANTEE 2025
Sponsored by donations from friends and family
Sam’s project will investigate the expansion of Israeli military occupation infrastructure in Syria—new bases, forward reconnaissance posts, patrols, and civilian arrests in village territories—following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. Through on-the-ground reporting, he will map the extent of this infrastructure, assess whether Israeli forces intend long-term entrenchment or annexation (drawing parallels with the occupied Golan Heights), and whether Israel’s growing presence in Syria form part of a push toward the “Greater Israel” invoked by some Israeli leaders since the outbreak of the Gaza genocide. Sam won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2014.
Audrey Thibert
FLORA LEWIS GRANTEE 2025
Sponsored by Jacqueline Albert-Simon and the Pierre F. Simon Charitable Trust
Audrey’s project will bring her to North Africa, where she will explore the intersection of faith and identity. Her reporting will have a particular focus on Sufism and Amazigh (indigenous North African) communities, and show how contemporary life in Algeria and Tunisia is shaped by important historical traditions. Audrey won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2024.
Kate Selig
FLORA LEWIS GRANTEE 2025
Sponsored by Jacqueline Albert-Simon and the Pierre F. Simon Charitable Trust
Kate’s project will take her to Brazil, where she will report on a bold experiment to fight climate change by spreading crushed volcanic rock across farmland to pull carbon from the air. Her story will use this work in Brazil as a window into the larger story of enhanced rock weathering, including its scientific promise, practical hurdles and global implications. Kate won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2024.
Kate’s story was published on The Washington Post 10/09/2025.
Tusha Mittal
Tusha's project will examine the rise of Hindu right-wing nationalism and its impact on democracy in India. The project will explore the playbook that elected governments increasingly use to subvert democracies. Tusha won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2015.
THEO WILSON GRANTEE 2025
Sponsored by donations from family and friends
Diana Kruzman
THEO WILSON GRANTEE 2024
Sponsored by donations from family and friends
Diana’s project will explore the long-lasting impact of the drying of the Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest lake and now a source of toxic air pollution. She will detail how efforts to address the disaster in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan can hold lessons for other drying lakes around the world. Diana won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2021.
Diana’s story was published on New Lines Magazine 10/20/2025
Max de Haldevang
STAN SWINTON GRANTEE 2024
Sponsored by the Swinton Family
Max will use his grant to travel to South America, where he is reporting on the history of a storied sliver of cloud forest that could provide hope for a field of tropical botanists facing down the barrel of a biodiversity crisis that is as existential as climate change but receives even less attention. Max won the OPC Foundation Scholar Award in 2015.