Pulitzer Center Awards 2026 Longworth Fellowships to 2 Chicago Journalists

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The Pulitzer Center is pleased to announce that the 2026 Richard C. Longworth Media Fellowships have been awarded to Stephanie Zimmermann, of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Public Media, and Wendy Wei, a Chicago-based freelance journalist whose work will be distributed by Capitol News Illinois.  

Zimmermann will report from Lithuania, a critical front-line NATO member with important economic and cultural ties to the Midwest. Zimmermann will be joined by Sun-Times photojournalist Ashlee Rezin.

Wei will report from Germany on migrant health care and how Illinois and other Midwestern states might learn from the German model.

The Longworth Media Fellowships aim to connect Midwestern readers with international stories that impact their daily lives. After years of financial pressure forcing traditional regional media outlets to cut foreign correspondents from their staffs, nonprofits like Chicago Public Media and Capitol News Illinois are stepping up to fill an important void.   

Zimmermann is an award-winning investigative journalist who focuses on consumer issues (including credit and debt, insurance, food, housing, health, transportation, technology, unsafe products, scams/frauds) and other issues that affect everyday people. She also has reported extensively on the intersection of mental health and the criminal legal system.  

Wei is an independent print/audio journalist and editor whose work is centered on migrants and other marginalized groups that are forced to compete for scarce resources. She leads the data journalism training program for emerging journalists at the Investigative Project on Race and Equity. Her print and audio reporting has won two Peter Lisagor Awards.

The Longworth Fellowships are awarded each year, thanks to a generous grant provided by the Clinton Family Fund to honor Longworth, a former Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent and current Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.