Meet the Sir Harry Evans Global Fellows

New Zealand reporter Pete McKenzie announced as 2025 Sir Harry Evans Global Fellow

Pete McKenzie has been awarded the 2025 Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism.

Mr McKenzie, based in New Zealand, is a contributing writer to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and the Economist 1843 Magazine, as well as his local outlets North & South Magazine and New Zealand Geographic.  

His investigative features focus on the politics of the Pacific, including exposing how corruption and mismanagement exhausted a major U.S fund in the Marshall Islands and how hundreds of Pacific veterans of America’s military are denied access to V.A. care. 

The Sir Harry Evans Fellowship Committee was particularly impressed with Mr McKenzie’s ethical and moral conviction, and his focus on pursuing stories with impact. 

Steve Stecklow, a Reuters investigative reporter and chair of the Fellowship Committee judging panel, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming Pete to the Reuters enterprise team.  

“Although he’s early in his career, he has already published some very impressive investigations and is looking to further hone his skills. We can’t wait for him to begin the fellowship.”  

Tina Brown said: “We had so many outstanding applicants this year. Pete is the reporter I know Harry would have chosen for his rigour and high-hearted passion for searching out stories of injustice against people who are too often invisible in our world.”  

First Sir Harry Evans Fellow Scoops Pulitzer Prize

Our first Sir Harry Evans Fellow, Waylon Cunningham, is part of a Reuters reporting team to win a Pulitzer Prize - the most prestigious awards in journalism.

Waylon, from Texas, was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism in 2023.

He worked on investigative projects from the Reuters newsroom in London, whilst receiving mentorship and support from our Institute of Advanced Study.

Investigating Elon Musk’s business empire

During the nine-month Fellowship, Waylon helped uncover systemic harms to customers, workers and lab animals at Elon Musk’s companies.

The body of work, titled The Musk Industrial Complex, won the Pulitzer Prize in the National Reporting category.

It marks the first time Reuters has won a Pulitzer in the national category and follows the series receiving a Polk Award earlier this year.

In the reports, Waylon and his Reuters colleagues documented a rising toll of injuries and deaths of workers at rocket builder SpaceX and of laboratory animals at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-implant company.

And they revealed that Musk’s groundbreaking electric-car company, Tesla, covered up dangerous defects in steering and suspension parts; rigged the driving-range estimates in its cars; invaded drivers’ privacy by sharing sensitive images recorded by their vehicles; and made Tesla Insurance customers wait months for claim payouts.

The reporting led to calls for action from US lawmakers.

The full award-winning team is: Marisa Taylor, Steve Stecklow, Norihiko Shirouzu, Hyunjoo Jin, Rachael Levy, Kevin Krolicki, Marie Mannes, Waylon Cunningham and Koh Gui Qing.

Rosa is the second recipient of the Fellowship, a partnership between Reuters, Durham University and Tina Brown CBE, award-winning journalist and widow of acclaimed newspaper and Durham graduate Sir Harry Evans.