The North Carolina Open Government Coalition announced its 2025 Sunshine Awards at the fourth annual NC News & Information Summit, honoring six outstanding journalists for their commitment to transparency and investigative reporting.
The North Carolina Open Government Coalition announced the 2025 Sunshine Awards in journalism on March 12 at the fourth annual NC News & Information Summit.
Nearly 300 Summit attendees convened at NC Central’s Student Center to participate in more than 30 hourlong workshops. The Sunshine Awards ceremony followed the morning’s keynote, “A Lifeline for Western North Carolina,” moderated by former New York Times Editor Dean Baquet.
Photos of the Summit are available on the School of Communications’ Flickr page.
Pate McMichael, director of the coalition, presented Sunshine Awards to six talented North Carolina journalists.
“Watchdog reporting and the dogged use of public records are essential to holding power accountable,” McMichael said. “This year’s awardees gave their communities an increasingly scarce public service – great journalism.”
Dan Kane, an investigative reporter for The News & Observer, received a Sunshine Award for his ongoing series, “Power & Secrecy.” Kane’s reporting has exposed tens of millions of dollars in questionable expenditures by Republican state legislators. Kane also exposed the existence of federal subpoenas related to his reporting on legislative spending.
“Public officials work for us,” Kane said, “and in a democracy we need to know what they are doing and why so we can make informed decisions.”
Emily Vespa, a 2024 NC State graduate and former managing editor of The Technician, received a Frank Barrows Award for Excellence in Student Journalism for reporting that “exemplifies the vital role of open meetings, public records, and press access in public life.” Vespa’s story in The Assembly highlighted the scope of PCB exposure across the UNC system.
“Public records were essential to understanding how UNC System schools deal with potential hazards in buildings where thousands of people work, study and live,” Vespa said. “I hope this story shows the power of public records in shining a light on issues of public concern.”
Lucas Thomae, a reporter for Carolina Public Press, also received a Frank Barrows Award. A 2024 UNC graduate and a former managing sports editor at The Daily Tarheel, Thomae revealed violations of the state’s public meetings law and debunked misinformation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
“I hope that through my reporting our readers will have a better understanding of what is required of their local leadership,” Thomae said. “The unjust actions of town councils and county boards of commissioners go unchecked far too often because there is no local news outlet to hold them accountable.”
WRAL’s 5 On Your Side team – Keely Arthur, Pritchard Strong and Kara Lysle – also received a 2025 Sunshine Award. Their reporting on the closure of NC State’s Poe Hall raised important concerns about the building’s legacy of toxic chemicals and the prevalence of cancer among university employees working in Poe Hall.
The Sunshine Awards selection committee included Anthony Hatcher, professor and chair of the Department of Journalism at Elon University; Lorraine Ahearn, assistant professor of journalism at Elon University; Phoebe Zerwick, director of the journalism program at Wake Forest University; and Lisa Sorg, reporter at Inside Climate News.
Founded in 2003, the North Carolina Open Government Coalition is a nonpartisan advocate for open government and access to public records. Based at Elon University since 2007, the coalition celebrates Sunshine Week through the NC News & Information Summit, a partnership with NC Local. Members of the public can support the coalition’s work – or ask for help through the hotline – by visiting the coalition’s website.