The 2026 Golden Padlock Award Nominees
Investigative Reporters and Editors has named its finalists for the 2026 Golden Padlock Award, honoring the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.
The 2026 award celebrates four finalists for their outstanding achievement in the art of keeping public interest information hidden from the public.
“Undermining the public’s right to know requires sophistication and ingenuity,” said Golden Padlock committee chair Robert Cribb. “These four finalists raised the secrecy bar in 2026, drawing on bold legal arguments to withhold important truths and make journalists look away. It didn’t work. But we celebrate their efforts.”
The finalists for the 2026 Golden Padlock Award are:
The Louisiana State Police for denying the existence of any video documenting an incident in which a suspect was allegedly assaulted by an officer. Even after acknowledging the video's existence, the agency said it couldn't release it because it didn’t keep a copy. That response was not good enough for reporters on WAFB’s investigative team. Based on a tip, they requested all videos tied to the incident involving state Trooper Matthew Clair, including footage from his body
cam and inside the jail. After months of denials and delays, WAFB filed a lawsuit against State Police for refusing to release the video. In March, they won. The released surveillance videos show a state trooper slapping a handcuffed inmate inside the rural Louisiana jail.
T. Lee Beeman, Jr. and Allegany County, Maryland, for blocking the release of an internal investigative report that showed that police officer Chuck Ternent confessed to exchanging inappropriate messages with a 17-year-old girl he met at a community policing event in 2015. In 2020, Ternent became the town’s chief of police. In July 2024, Allegany County Attorney T. Lee Beeman, Jr., redacted all references to the officer in reports requested by freelance journalist Madeleine O’Neill, citing an expungement statute. Maryland’s Public Information Act Compliance Board sided with the reporter when she appealed. O’Neill obtained the records in May 2025, and Ternent retired the following month.
The Oregon Lottery and Oregon Legislature for making sure an explosive scandal like the one The Oregonian/OregonLive revealed would never tarnish the state lottery’s reputation again — by enacting a secrecy provision covering the very records reporters used to bring the scheme to light. In 2024, investigative reporter Ted Sickinger’s analysis of thousands of lottery winners detected unusual patterns that exposed a foreign company and local entrepreneurs collecting millions in winnings by gaming the system. They included a shadow lottery operator in Australia and pawn shops that bought winning tickets at a discounted rate from the true winners. The scheme helped many winners avoid paying child support or taxes. In response, lawmakers passed restrictions on lottery discounting. But they tacked a secrecy provision onto the reform bill last year that allows winners to remain anonymous — making it difficult, if not impossible, for reporters to determine if the reforms are working or to uncover future schemes or for the public to hold the government accountable.
The City of Chula Vista, California, for rejecting La Prensa San Diego’s Public Records Act request for videos from police unmanned drones. The four-year legal battle led to the release of videos that police previously shielded from the public. The case was upheld in court and survived two separate appeals to the California Supreme Court. The disclosure created a new legal precedent for anyone seeking similar information. The City of Chula Vista spent about $1.25 million in legal fees. La Prensa, the region's oldest Hispanic community newspaper, has had to sue local agencies in the San Diego area more than 13 times for documents – and won every case.
The winner of the 2026 Golden Padlock Award will be announced during the awards luncheon at the IRE Conference on Friday, June 19, in National Harbor, Maryland