George Washington University alumnus N. Kirkpatrick, BFA ’10, won the 2023 Innovative Storytelling Award from the National Press Foundation (NPF) for their work on “The Blast Effect,” an immersive series produced by The Washington Post on the impact of bullets from an AR-15 on human tissue and organs. To create the series, the team reviewed nearly 100 autopsy reports from several AR-15 shootings as well as court testimony and interviews with trauma surgeons, ballistics experts and a medical examiner.
Kirkpatrick is a visual reporter at The Washington Post. They collaborate across the newsroom to report and produce visually driven stories told in interactive forms that blend text with photos, videos, graphics and illustrations. Kirkpatrick joined the Post in 2013 as a photo editor.