Watchdog Writers Group
Watchdog Writers Group is a non-profit journalism institute that produces books and in-depth reporting, while also acting as a teaching lab to train the next generation of reporters.
Watchdog Writers Group funds the type of deep investigative journalism that is under-financed by the private marketplace. We do this by giving annual fellowships to authors, and by hiring students to be reporters alongside them. In doing this, the program hopes to revitalize newsgathering in the middle of the country about vitally important issues
The Team
THE AUTHORS, CLASS OF 2025-2026
Molly O’Toole
Molly O’Toole is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, working on “The Route,” a nonfiction book on global migration through the Americas to the United States.
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Alec MacGillis
Alec MacGillis is a reporter at ProPublica, where his focus in recent years has included gun violence, economic inequality and the post-pandemic crisis in public education.
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Caleb Gayle
Caleb Gayle is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a professor at Northeastern University.
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Dan Kaufman
Dan Kaufman is the author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics (W.W. Norton).
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Ted Genoways
Ted Genoways is a two-time James Beard Award winner and author of six books, including Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico (W.W. Norton, May 2025).
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Michelle García
Michelle García is a journalist who has written extensively about the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. identity, politics and the nation’s violent mythologies for the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications.
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THE STUDENTS, CLASS OF 2025-2026
Amber Roldan
Amber Roldan is a senior in the accelerated masters program studying Reporting and Writing with a Women and Gender Studies Minor.
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Aminah Jenkins
Aminah Jenkins is a second-year master’s student at the University of Missouri studying data and investigative reporting.
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Cristal Sanchez
Cristal Sanchez is a bilingual reporter at the University of Missouri focused on solutions journalism and covering marginalized communities.
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Ivy Reed
Ivy Reed is a junior at the University of Missouri majoring in journalism and women’s and gender studies.
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Laine Cibulskis
Laine Cibulskis is a senior studying journalism and economics at the University of Missouri.
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Maggie LeBeau
Maggie LeBeau is a sophomore at the University of Missouri studying journalism and history.
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Cayli Yanagida
Cayli Yanagida is a second-year graduate student with an emphasis in Cross-Platform Editing and Producing at the University of Missouri.
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THE AUTHORS, CLASS OF 2024-2025
Molly O’Toole
Molly O’Toole is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, working on “The Route,” a nonfiction book on global migration through the Americas to the United States.
READ BIO
Alec MacGillis
Alec MacGillis is a reporter at ProPublica, where his focus in recent years has included gun violence, economic inequality and the post-pandemic crisis in public education.
READ BIO
Caleb Gayle
Caleb Gayle is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a professor at Northeastern University.
READ BIO
Ted Genoways
Ted Genoways is a two-time James Beard Award winner and author of six books, including Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico (W.W. Norton, May 2025).
READ BIO
Mya Frazier
Mya Frazier is writing a book that expands on her recent investigation for The New York Times Magazine into America’s housing crisis and the credit reporting system. During the fellowship, she will research the relationship between class mobility and the credit system.
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THE STUDENTS, CLASS OF 2024-2025
Bryan Chou
Bryan Chou is a second-year Master’s student at the University of Missouri studying data and investigative reporting.
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Anna Colletto
Anna Colletto is a junior studying journalism and political science at the University of Missouri.
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Paige Gerling
Paige Gerling is a senior at the University of Missouri studying journalism and political science.
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Sophia Anderson
Sophia is a sophomore at the University of Missouri studying journalism and sociology.
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THE AUTHORS, CLASS OF 2023
FELLOW
Caleb Gayle
Caleb Gayle is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a professor at Northeastern University.
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FELLOW
Sarah Smarsh
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist who has covered socioeconomic class, politics and public policy for The New York Times, National Geographic, Harper’s, and many other publications.
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FELLOW
Alisa Roth
Alisa Roth is a contributor to Marketplace, NPR, and other outlets, who specializes in mental health, criminal justice and other social policy issues.
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FELLOW
Mya Frazier
Mya Frazier is writing a book that expands on her recent investigation for The New York Times Magazine into America’s housing crisis and the credit reporting system. During the fellowship, she will research the relationship between class mobility and the credit system.
READ BIO
THE STUDENTS, CLASS OF 2023
Anna Colletto
Anna Colletto is a junior studying journalism and political science at the University of Missouri.
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Jocelyn Heimsoth
Jocelyn Heimsoth is a senior at the University of Missouri double-majoring in Journalism and Environmental Science, studying environmental journalism.
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Sophia Anderson
Sophia is a sophomore at the University of Missouri studying journalism and sociology.
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Evy Lewis
Evy Lewis is a senior at the University of Missouri double-majoring in journalism and English.
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Valerie Nava
Valerie Nava is a second year M.A. student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
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The Process
The Watchdog Writers Group provides annual fellowships to established journalists who seek to step away from daily reporting and write a book that helps deepen the public understanding of important issues. The fellowship includes a financial stipend of $50,000 a year and other means of support, such as research assistance, networking opportunities and workshops with other authors.
Recent Stories
Watch here for new stories regularly.
“The Unequal Effects of School Closings”
Alec MacGillis
The New Yorker/ProPublica, August 2024
“How a Refugee’s American Dream Ended in a Police Killing”
Ted Genoways
The New Republic, May 2023
“Black, Evangelical and Torn”
Caleb Gayle
New York Times Magazine, March 2023
“The Out Crowd”
Molly O’Toole
This American Life, November 2019