From top left: Mark Boyer (’15), David Gelles (’08), Ruxandra Guidi (‘02), Serginho Roosblad (’18), Leah Rosenbaum (’19), Susie Neilson (’19) and Garance Burke (’04).
Seven UC Berkeley Journalism alums are among those named finalists in the 2026 Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, considered the highest honor in business journalism in the United States.
The finalists represent outstanding work across 13 competitive categories, recognizing reporting and storytelling that advanced public understanding of business, finance and the economy in 2025.
David Gelles (’08) is a finalist in the International category for “Power Moves,” a series examining China’s drive to dominate clean energy, for The New York Times. He shares the honor with colleagues Keith Bradsher, Brad Plumer, Somini Sengupta and Harry Stevens.
Garance Burke (’04) and Serginho Roosblad (’18) of the Associated Press are also finalists in the International category for “Made in America, Watched Worldwide,” along with colleagues Dake Kang, Yael Grauer, Aniruddha Ghosal, Byron Tau, Sam Mednick, Michael Biesecker, David Goldman and Marshall Ritzel. The series won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
Mark Boyer (’15), senior video editor for The New York Times, is a finalist in the Visual Storytelling category for “Visualizing Trump’s Trade War,” along with colleagues Agnes Chang, Keith Collins, Lazaro Gamio, Sarah Kerr, Isabelle Qian, Pablo Robles, Tony Romm, Ana Swanson and Daisuke Wakabayashi.
Ruxandra Guidi (‘02) is a finalist in the Audio category for “Shipwreck: How a Captain, Company, and Culture Sank the SS El Faro” for Sugar23 and Audible.
The ten-part series tells the story of a catastrophic decision by an American captain to sail into a hurricane and the crew members’ heroic but doomed efforts to save their ship. The series combines original reporting and interviews with re-creations of conversations on the El Faro’s bridge, captured by the ship’s black box in the hours before it sank.
She shares the honor with colleagues Maeve McGoran, Caitlin Pierce, Mike Mayer, Anna Stitt, Martha Little, Liam Billingham, Joshua Lash, Mischa Stanton and Gary Gunn.
Leah Rosenbaum (’19) is a finalist in the Personal Finance and Consumer Reporting category for “This Company Charges Disabled Vets Millions, Even After VA Said It’s Likely Illegal,” for NPR and The War Horse. She shares the honor with colleagues Chris Arnold, Caley Fox Shannon, Quil Lawrence, Robert Little and Mike Frankel.
Susie Neilson (’19) is also a finalist in the Personal Finance and Consumer Reporting category for “Burned: A San Francisco Chronicle investigation of the insurance crisis now devastating wildfire survivors” with colleagues Megan Munce and Sara DiNatale. The series won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
The winners will be announced at the Loeb Awards Banquet and Celebration on Thursday, October 8, at Capitale in New York City.
