Sarah Conway

About Sarah Conway

I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter in Chicago, writing stories and managing editorial projects rooted in records and data about Chicago\'s deeply marginalized and overlooked people. I report on how government failures and public health crises often amplify the pre-existing issues of labor exploitation, police misconduct, the state\'s care of minors, and gender-based violence. In 2024, I won the Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for Missing in Chicago, a seven-part investigative series with City Bureau and the Invisible Institute that exposed systemic patterns of mismanagement in Chicago police’s handling of missing persons cases — which disproportionately affect Black women and girls. Published with the Chicago Reader, South Side Weekly, The TRiiBE, and Word in Black (a groundbreaking collaboration of 10 legendary Black news publishers), the investigation came at a critical moment in Illinois as elected officials work to address Chicago’s missing persons crisis. Research for the series was based on an analysis of over complaint files, which identified buried patterns of misconduct that marginalized homelessness, substance use, and mental health disorders, and an examination of one million public records. The investigation emerged from over two years of building relationships with dozens of loved ones, neighbors and local advocates impacted by the missing persons crisis to center their narratives and experiences. The series received several national and local awards, including the 2024 Izzy Award for \"the qualities of the best local journalism being produced today: deeply investigative, collaborative, data-driven, community-focused, and nonprofit, with an emphasis on multimedia narrative\" and the 2024 Driehaus Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting regarding \"the most important contributions to government-related investigative reporting in Illinois.\" My writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Injustice Watch, the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Reader, Belt Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, BuzzFeed News, South Side Weekly, In These Times, Block Club Chicago, and other outlets. I am a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and Chicago Headline Club (Chicago Society of Professional Journalists). Visit my portfolio at

Experience

1. Senior Reporter and Special Project Manager

   City Bureau

   Apr 2021 — Present

Education

• New York University

  Bachelors, Journalism and History

  2004 — 2008