The Financial Times was presented with three awards yesterday at the 2021 Gerald Loeb Awards in the US, tying the Washington Post for the most prizes of the night. It was the news organisation’s best-ever performance at the prestigious event. 

The FT won in the ‘Breaking News’ category for its coverage of the collapse of Wirecard, the German fintech group that filed for insolvency in June. The award recognised a global team of reporters, including Dan McCrum, Olaf Storbeck, Stefania Palma, John Reed, Guy Chazan and Laurence Fletcher. 

The FT was also jointly awarded the Loeb in the ‘Investigative’ category for uncovering Wirecard’s accounting fraud. McCrum, who led the FT’s investigation into Wirecard, and Storbeck were again recognised, as were Sam Jones, Paul Murphy, Helen Warrell, Henry Foy, Max Seddon, Andrew England and Erika Solomon. 

The third award came in the ‘Video’ category for the documentary ‘Opioids, Inc.', produced in partnership with the PBS investigative series FRONTLINE. Opioids, Inc. investigates the rise of pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics, maker of one of the most aggressive marketers of highly addictive opioid painkillers, and the federal prosecution that brought it down. US pharmaceutical correspondent Hannah Kuchler led the FT team in its partnership with PBS journalists. 

Peter Spiegel, the FT’s US managing editor, said, “The Loebs are the Oscars of the American business press, and I couldn’t be prouder to have won three awards in one night. All three highlight the kind of high-impact, muckraking financial journalism our global network of journalists produce on a regular basis, and want to thank those reporters who work so hard to bring these important stories to our readers.” 

The Gerald Loeb Awards are among the highest honours in journalism, recognising the work of reporters whose contributions illuminate the worlds of business, finance and the economy for readers and viewers worldwide.

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For more information, please contact: 

Rhonda Taylor | rhonda.taylor@ft.com 

About the Financial Times

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of more than one million, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news and services for the global business community.