Madison Hopkins is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter focused on public accountability and the systems that shape people’s daily lives. Most recently, she was a senior investigative reporter with the Illinois Answers Project, the nonprofit newsroom of the Better Government Association in Chicago.
In 2022, Hopkins and Chicago Tribune reporter Cecilia Reyes won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for “The Failures Before the Fires,” a yearlong investigation into Chicago’s lax enforcement of building code violations. The project documented dozens of fatal fires in buildings long known to city officials as dangerous, revealing systemic failures in oversight and accountability.
Hopkins’ past work includes reporting on environmental oversight, disability services, early childhood systems, and other areas where government responsibility intersects with vulnerable populations.
As a Spencer fellow, Hopkins will investigate the structural drivers of caregiver burnout and mental health strain among families raising autistic children. Her reporting will examine how the systems and communities that families rely on can better support caregivers and help autistic children thrive.