In summary
The Toner Prizes, awarded by the Newhouse School, recognize the best political reporting and are named after Robin Toner ’76, the first woman to hold the position of national political correspondent for The New York Times.
CalMatters’ political accountability journalism, powered by its groundbreaking Digital Democracy project, is a finalist for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Political Reporting. The Toner Prizes highlight and reinforce quality, fact-based political reporting — work that illuminates the electoral process, reveals the politics of policy and engages the public in democracy.
The local political reporting category was won by the Chicago Tribune; other finalists include the Chicago Tribune for another story package, The Indianapolis Star, The Texas Tribune and (Albany) Times Union.
CalMatters’ honor is for a series of political stories using CalMatters’ groundbreaking Digital Democracy platform, a custom-built project that uses AI to add transparency and accountability to California’s secretive legislative process, tracking every bill introduced, every vote taken, every dollar donated and every word spoken in public hearings. It is free to the public and grounded in the ethical, transparent use of AI to enable accountability reporting that upholds the highest journalism ethics.
The finalist honor is for the CalMatters Digital Democracy and politics team, including: CalMatters politics reporter Ryan Sabalow, Digital Democracy engineering manager Thomas Gerrity, Forbes professor of computer engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Foaad Khosmood, CalMatters co-founder and former senior editor Dave Lesher, Digital Democracy transcription manager Hans Poschman and CalMatters politics editor Juliet Williams.
Throughout 2025, the Digital Democracy project powered Sabalow’s series of political accountability articles, including journalism that:
- Revealed how California lawmakers allocated hundreds of millions in earmarks for questionable local projects even as the state faced budget shortfalls.
- Uncovered how lawmakers regularly cut off members of the public from testifying on consequential legislation.
- Exposed how a lawmaker misled the public for decades about his police service record.
- Showed how, a year after our original, award-winning investigation, lawmakers continue to shirk accountability by dodging tough votes, prompting pledges from a number of legislators to do better
The Digital Democracy database is constantly reviewed and fine-tuned by editors to ensure that it accurately reflects what we see in the Legislature. The Digital Democracy website is available, free of charge, to any member of the public who wants to learn more about how California policy is made. Tipsheets identifying potential story ideas are provided as a free service to participating newsrooms.
In an era where public trust in government and the media is increasingly fragile — and the world is grappling with how to responsibly use AI — CalMatters’ Digital Democracy initiative has strengthened civic engagement and empowered California and its journalists with tools to independently explore state government.