Asia Society has announced that the 2025 Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia will be awarded to The Associated Press and FRONTLINE, the investigative documentary series aired on PBS and produced by GBH in Boston. The honor is being bestowed for their collaborative project, South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning, which encompasses a series of investigative reports, an online interactive experience, and a documentary. This extensive work was led by journalists Kim Tong-Hyung and Claire Galofaro, with Lora Moftah serving as the director and producer.
The project sheds light on the long-standing practice of international adoptions from South Korea, a program that originated in the aftermath of the Korean War. Over time, more than 200,000 children were sent abroad, primarily to Europe and North America. Through years of meticulous document analysis and over 100 interviews with adoptees, the investigation exposed widespread fraud and systemic failures within the adoption system. Many parents had their children taken away without consent, while adoptees often spent their lives searching for the truth about their origins.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, the Osborn Elliott Prize Jury highlighted the profound impact of the investigation: “This tour de force of reporting by Associated Press reporters Kim Tong-Hyung and Claire Galofaro and FRONTLINE (PBS) documented the costs of a generations-long South Korean program of sending children abroad for adoption. Started in the years after the Korean war, the program eventually sent more than 200,000 children to new homes mostly in Europe and North America. Years of painstaking document review and interviews with more than 100 adoptees revealed systemwide fraud and wrongdoing in the program, which in turn imposed a lifetime emotional toll on parents whose children were taken from them, sometimes without consent, and on the adoptees themselves, many of whom were never told or could never find the truth about their origins.”
The investigation also brought attention to a serious issue involving adoptees in the United States. The report uncovered that many adopted individuals from South Korea and other nations were never granted U.S. citizenship due to legal oversights. These lapses have had life-altering consequences for some adoptees, leading to deportation threats and legal uncertainty. As the jury stated, “The AP also found that many U.S. adoptees—from South Korea and other countries—were left without citizenship because of legal lapses that Congress failed to fix.”
This reporting has already yielded tangible results. The exposure prompted the South Korean government to unseal records and initiate reviews of past adoption practices. Furthermore, it has encouraged families across the globe to reassess their own histories, prompting a broader conversation about transparency, identity, and justice. As the jury noted, “The work of these journalists has caused Seoul to open up records, countries to review past adoption practices, and families around the world to re-examine their personal histories.”
Asia Society will recognize the winners during a special event in New York on Tuesday, June 5. The Osborn Elliott Prize includes a $10,000 cash award and is presented annually by an independent panel to honor outstanding journalism on Asia produced in the previous year.
In discussing the range and quality of submissions for the 2025 Osborn Elliott Prize, the jury also gave special mention to an entry from Bloomberg News titled The Egg. This investigative piece examined the global trade in human eggs, which is part of the booming $35 billion fertility industry in which Asia plays a central role. The jury drew a compelling parallel between historic adoption trends and today’s fertility practices: “In particular, the Jury recognizes another powerful example of transnational reporting by Bloomberg News, whose reporters tracked the international commerce in human eggs, part of a $35 billion global fertility industry in which Asia plays a crucial role. In much the same way that wealthy countries once patronized Korea for babies, today wealthy families may acquire eggs or pay for surrogates from people in other countries.”
The selection of winners was made by a distinguished panel of judges. This year’s jury was chaired by Marcus Brauchli, managing partner of North Base Media and former top editor at both The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Other jurors included Dorinda Elliott, Executive Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University and a former Newsweek journalist; Nisid Hajari, author, Bloomberg editorial board member, and past top editor at Newsweek; Zuraidah Ibrahim, Executive Managing Editor at the South China Morning Post; and Norman Pearlstine, a seasoned media executive and former senior editor at the Los Angeles Times, Time Inc., and The Wall Street Journal.
The Osborn Elliott Prize, affectionately known as the “Oz Prize,” commemorates the legacy of Osborn Elliott, a celebrated journalist, author, and editor-in-chief of Newsweek. Elliott was instrumental in advancing the concept of “civic journalism,” a form of reporting focused on addressing pressing public policy issues and engaging communities in the process. His enduring influence continues through this annual recognition of journalistic excellence in Asia-related reporting.
In recent years, the Oz Prize has recognized a diverse range of impactful journalism. In 2024, The Outlaw Ocean Project was honored for “China: The Superpower of Seafood,” an in-depth report on China’s dominance in the global seafood trade. In 2023, The Economist’s Sue-Lin Wong and David Rennie were awarded for their insightful reporting on China. The 2022 winners, Matthieu Aikins and Jim Huylebroek of The New York Times Magazine, were recognized for their powerful coverage titled “Inside the Fall of Kabul.” In 2021, Alice Su of the Los Angeles Times received the prize for her comprehensive reporting on China.
Additional information about the Osborn Elliott Prize and profiles of previous winners can be found at AsiaSociety.org/OzPrize.
This year’s winning project has not only revealed previously hidden truths but also sparked international reflection on the consequences of adoption practices, the need for legal reform, and the enduring quest for identity among those affected. The collaboration between The Associated Press and FRONTLINE stands as a powerful testament to the enduring value of investigative journalism in uncovering injustice and prompting change.