• Bridge reporter Kelly House honored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her reporting on disappearing whitefish 
  • House named a finalist for the 2026 Victor K. McElheny Award for Local and Regional Science Journalism
  • Her series highlighted the decline of Great Lakes whitefish and the scientists racing to try to save the iconic species

LANSING — Bridge Michigan senior environment reporter Kelly House was honored Friday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her reporting on the near collapse of whitefish in the Great Lakes.

House was named a finalist for the 2026 Victor K. McElheny Award for Local and Regional Science Journalism from the university’s Knight Science Journalism Program.

Other winners and honorees included reporters from Injustice Watch, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Columbus Dispatch and the Tampa Bay Times. 

“It is incredibly encouraging to see such a strong pool of entries this year,” Usha Lee McFarling, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program said in the announcement. 

House is one of the most decorated environmental reporters in Michigan, where she he was named Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association in 2023 and has won numerous other awards. 

She is a finalist for the MPA’s 2025 Journalist of the Year award, which will be announced next week.

Her series on whitefish highlighted the decline of Great Lakes whitefish — and the scientists racing to save them as invasive mussels siphon food sources like nutrients and plankton from the lakes.

Read some of the series highlights here:

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