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Scott Higham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author who documented the corporate and political forces that fueled the opioid epidemic, in addition to conducting other major investigations. He is a five-timePulitzer Prize finalist and won the Pulitzer twice with his colleagues atThe Washington Post. He is also coauthor of two books.
Born in Queens, New York, Higham grew up on Long Island. He is the son of a New York City homicide detective stationed in the Fort Apache precinct in the South Bronx and an airline secretary and homemaker from Winthrop, Massachusetts. He graduated fromStony Brook University with a B.A. in history and an M.S. from theColumbia Graduate School of Journalism. Higham also earned an A.S. in criminal justice atSuffolk County Community College.[1]
Higham began his journalism career as the editor of his college newspaper,The Stony Brook Press. He then worked as a news clerk forNewsday and as a stringer and copyboy forThe New York Times. After graduating from Columbia, he worked at the Allentown Morning Call, theMiami Herald andThe Baltimore Sun.[1]
Higham spent six years examining the opioid epidemic as a lead reporter forThe Washington Post. The first series revealed the corporate influences behind the opioid epidemic and was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2020[7] for its “unprecedented insight into America’s deadly opioid epidemic.” A second series on the rise of fentanyl was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2023.[8] The Pulitzer Board called that project an “exhaustive investigation” that exposed “the government’s failure to address the epidemic of addiction.” He won numerous awards with Lenny Bernstein ofThe Washington Post and Bill Whitaker, Ira Rosen and Sam Hornblower of60 Minutes for investigations into the causes of theopioid epidemic.[9] He began working for 60 Minutes in June 2024.
They also co-authored the critically acclaimed book,American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry.Bob Woodward called the book “an eye-opening, shocking and deeply documented investigation of the opioid crisis by two great reporters.”[11]
2020,Pulitzer Prize, Finalist, Public Service, for using “previously hidden government records and confidential company documents to provide unprecedented insight into America’s deadly opioid epidemic."
2018,Peabody Award, with the staff ofThe Washington Post andCBS News60 Minutes, for "The Whistleblower" the joint investigation into how the Drug Enforcement Administration was hobbled in its attempts to hold Big Pharma accountable in the opioid epidemic."[14]
2018, The Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism,[15] with the staff ofThe Washington Post andCBS News60 Minutes, for "The Whistleblower" and "Too Big to Prosecute"
2017,Polk Award, Medical Reporting, with the staff ofThe Washington Post, for tracing lax regulation of the distribution of narcotic painkillers by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
2016,Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, with the staff ofThe Washington Post, for its revelatory initiative in creating and using a national database to illustrate how often and why the police shoot to kill and who the victims are most likely to be.
2002,Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, withHorwitz andCohen ofThe Washington Post, for a series that exposed the District of Columbia's role in the neglect and death of 229 children placed in protective care between 1993 and 2000, which prompted an overhaul of the city's child welfare system.
Previously the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time from 1953–1963 and the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting from 1964–1984
