Pete McKenzie has been awarded the 2025 Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism.
The Fellowship is a landmark partnership among Reuters, Durham University and Tina Brown CBE, award-winning journalist and widow of acclaimed newspaper editor Sir Harry Evans.
The Fellowship offers talented early career journalists the chance to pursue a nine-month investigative project in a Reuters newsroom along with access to Durham University experts and resources.
Sir Harry, a Durham University alumnus, is well-known for his successful ten-year campaign to win compensation for the victims of the thalidomide drug whilst editor at the Sunday Times, and for campaigning to introduce free cervical smear tests for women while at the helm of The Northern Echo.
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.
He was chosen out of more than 1,000 applicants to be the 2025 Sir Harry Evans Global Fellow and will take up his role early next year.
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.”
Mr McKenzie will receive mentorship and access to resources at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study, which hosts projects and international fellows working across academic disciplines.
Professor Karen O’Brien, Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said: “Pete is an exceptional early career reporter in the vein of Sir Harry with his commitment to rigorous truth-telling and fearless enquiry.
“I’ve no doubt Pete will continue the outstanding standards set by our previous Fellows. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to Durham.”
This year's runners-up were Thomas Copeland, a tenacious, multimedia extraordinaire from the U.K., and Carolina Moraes Sanches, a passionate, award-winning journalist and podcaster from Brazil.
The Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism is part of a program honoring Sir Harry Evans, primarily supported by David Thomson, Chairman of Thomson Reuters, Reuters News, Durham University and Tina Brown.
Sir Harry was an undergraduate at Durham’s University College and went on to enjoy an acclaimed 70-year career in investigative journalism and publishing.
He gained international recognition for his fearless campaigning, and in 2002 he was voted the Greatest British Newspaper Editor of all time by his media peers.
Sir Harry also authored fifteen books, including his celebrated memoir My Paper Chase, and was editor-at-large for Reuters in the US from 2011 until his death in 2020 aged 92.
In May this year, the Fellowship and Sir Harry’s legacy were celebrated at the second annual Sir Harry Evans Global Summit in Investigative Journalism, Truth Tellers, held at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.
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