CT Mirror Accepts 2025 AARP Award for Excellence in Journalism on Aging — Small Category

Dave Altimari accepted the 2025 AARP Award for Excellence in Journalism on Aging for the small news category at the National Press Foundation's Annual Awards Dinner on March 12, 2026. Jenna Carlesso, Andrew Brown, Dave Altimari and Katy Golvala of the CT Mirror created “Priced-Out,” a series investigating rate increases among the nearly 100,000 long-term care insurance policy holders in Connecticut. Customers increasingly face yearly rate increases upwards of 50%, sometimes climbing as high as 174%. Investigators pulled back the curtain on behind-the-scenes decisions leading to increases, from insurance executive pay incentives tied to successful rate hikes, to the ties between state regulators and providers. Judges called the piece “incredibly well done,” and remarked that the comprehensive reporting spoke to a nationwide issue. The project made clear that “this problem can’t be solved by fixing the way the insurance works. There needs to be something done top-down. Because everyone in the country is going to have this problem.” This is the CT Mirror’s second win in this category, after their win in 2023 for their four-part series “Connecticut’s Elder Care Reckoning.” The AARP Award was established in 2023 to recognize excellence in reporting on issues related to aging and encourage journalists to cover the challenges and opportunities for people and society in the face of significant demographic trends. NPF is solely responsible for the content. This video was produced within the Evelyn Y. Davis studios.