Costa Rican Nadia Reiman has won the first ever Pulitzer Prize given for audio journalism for her ground-breaking ‘’The Out Crowd” episode of the radio show “This American Life”. Her work was described by the New York Times as “revelatory, intimate journalism that illuminates the personal impact of the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy”, with heart-breaking details of life in refugee camps at the Mexican-American border. The program aired on radio, iTunes and Spotify, with rave reviews.
According to the New York Times, “The award is a milestone not only for This American Life, now in its 25th year, but also for the entire medium, which has been energized over the last decade by the emergence of podcasting as a force in journalism and culture.”
Ms. Reiman commented, “I never thought I would see something like this happen. It’s the highest honor.” She researched this project for more than nine months, including interviewing both immigration officials and migrants who were stranded at the Mex/USA border. The ‘Remain in Mexico’ program is a Trump administration invention that takes a hard stance against asylum seekers trying to enter the US to escape danger and death in other countries. The program requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they await a hearing with overwhelmed immigration officials, who are struggling to catch up.
There are currently over 60,000 immigrants living in flimsy tent camps, just across the border from the US. In camp, they have become easy targets for theft, sexual violence, torture and kidnap. Reiman describes the conditions in the camp through the eyes of a 9-year old boy named Darwin, who adds charm to a story which should make the listener weep. She crafts her story with compassion and honesty, perhaps because she herself was at one time an immigrant to the US. Reiman shines a light on the plights of both immigrants, and the immigration officers who have to process them.

Ms. Reiman, 37-years old, has been a radio producer since 2005, becoming known for her journalism on immigration. She worked for National Public Radio’s Latino USA Team where she won a Peabody for her work covering 9/11 stories, before becoming a supervising producer for This American Life. She is also a teacher, a translator, and a wife and mother. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, but was born in San Jose to a Costa Rican mother and Chilean father. She moved with her family to the US at the age of eight, yet has never forgotten her strong ties to her country of birth.
Ms. Reiman, now an American citizen, commented about her obvious compassion for the immigrant population saying, “I think how we treat people who we don’t consider to be citizens and who have no political power says something about who we are as a nation.”
Reiman hopes to return to Costa Rica to celebrate her award with her Tico family as soon as the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
You are invited to listen to the winning episode ‘The Out Crowd’ here .

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