Sonner Kehrt (’18)
Investigative reporter Sonner Kehrt (’18) of The War Horse, a national nonprofit newsroom covering the military has been awarded the 2026 Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award from Columbia Journalism School, recognizing outstanding achievements in reporting on racial or religious hatred, intolerance or discrimination in the United States.
2026 Tobenkin Award Jurors’ Citation:
The 2026 Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award winner is Sonner Kehrt, whose series of stories for The War Horse exposed the human cost of the Trump administration’s discriminatory policies in the military. Through richly sourced reporting and compassionate anecdotes, Kehrt examined how the policies have impacted women in combat, transgender service people, and the mixed-immigration status of military families. Her three pieces were republished by Mother Jones, The 19th, and local newsrooms. The impact of the series was immediate: major outlets, including Newsweek and NBC, sought interviews with one of Kehrt’s subjects, Army Major Alivia Stehlik, who was mistreated by Trump’s transgender policies; her story about the deportation of an active-duty Army sergeant’s wife was cited in congressional reports; and Kehrt appeared on a Vox podcast about how women were being pushed out of the military.
“I’m honored to receive the Tobenkin Memorial Award,” Kehrt said. “The issues we’re facing as a country deeply impact military service members and their families, but they’re often just expected to put their heads down and be thanked for their service. I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring more attention to a community that is increasingly caught in the crosshairs.”
Kehrt is a former Coast Guard officer with a master’s in governance from Georgetown University. She humanizes the plight of American service women and men who serve honorably and make sacrifices for their country and yet are marginalized or face civil rights violations. Her reporting on veterans and service members has been discussed by the White House and the House and Senate Armed Service Committees, as well as cited to the Supreme Court.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED magazine, Inside Climate News, The Verge, and other publications. She has also worked as a lecturer at UC Berkeley Journalism, teaching classes in writing, reporting, and ethics.
This isn’t the first year a Berkeley Journalism alum has been honored with the award. In 2025, Angela Hart (’14) was on the reporting team at KFF Health News that won for “Systemic Sickness,” exposing how, historically, systemic racism in the United States continues to harm the health of Black Americans. Susan Ferriss (’87) won twice, in 2021 for “Hidden Hardship” about guest farmworkers with visas dying of COVID-19 in obscurity, for the Center for Public Integrity, and in 2014 for “Throwaway Kids,” detailing how California schools were failing troubled teenagers.
The Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award was established at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1959 — during the heart of the civil rights movement. The awards are judged by Columbia Journalism School faculty annually and given out on Journalism Day in May as part of graduation. Kehrt will speak to the graduating class of 2026.
