The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications will host the winners of the 2025 Brechner Freedom of Information Award, St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports and The Marshall Project, for a day of dialogue with students, faculty and the community on their collaborative investigative project, Unsolved. 

Announced in February, Unsolved was selected out of 40 entries for its thorough examination into the systemic issues surrounding unsolved murders in St. Louis, Missouri, and its years-long battle for access to records from the St. Louis Police Department.

The Unsolved project investigated why nearly half of St. Louis’ homicides remained unsolved, despite the city having the highest homicide rate in the U.S. from 2014 to 2020.

According to the judges, the series uncovered systemic issues within the St. Louis Police Department, including poor investigative practices, resource shortages, and racial disparities in case resolutions. It also highlighted the department’s lack of transparency in sharing critical public records. 

“Not only did the series make an impact on the community, their work led to a change in policy that allows for more data to be accessed to the public,” said one of the judges, Kelly Kauffman, engagement reporter at MuckRock, a nonprofit that aids people in acquiring public records.

To celebrate this achievement, the Florida Free Speech Forum will host a luncheon and award ceremony on April 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Institute of Culinary Arts at Eastside High School in Gainesville, Florida. The event will feature a presentation by Tom Scheck from APM Reports, Alysia Santo from The Marshall Project, and Rachel Lippmann from STLPR.

The event is open to the public, and prices vary. For attendees who would like lunch, tickets cost $20. Otherwise, registration is free.  

The deadline to register is April 7.  

For more information and to register, please visit the Florida Free Speech Forum’s website here.

The group will also spend the day presenting the project to journalism students at the CJC and filming a moderated Q&A about the project. The Q&A will be posted on the Sunshine Week YouTube page.

For questions, please contact Sydney Sims, Brechner’s outreach coordinator, at sydney.sims@ufl.edu.  

Posted: April 1, 2025
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Brechner Awards, Brechner FOI Project, Government Transparency, investigative reporting