Haitian migrants looking for the so-called “American Dream” in Mexico. Young Gazan children who’ve lost their limbs in Israeli strikes and were forced to leave their families behind to get care. Black men in a swing state during a closely watched election. These are some of the stories “ZIP Codes with Imaeyen” reported on in the last year and they detail the breadth of the series’ work.
“ZIP Codes with Imaeyen” explores the social, economic, and political conditions of a place through the personal stories of the people most affected. These people are among society’s most marginalized and their voices are the least amplified.
In a saturated news environment that often fails to contextualize its stories, “ZIP Codes” exposes the root causes of issues and draws connections. It does so using a mechanism that’s shorthand for how people are able to live: location.
“ZIP Codes with Imaeyen” is a long-form news documentary series highlighting how where people live not only informs how they live, but it also defines it. The series offers an intimate look at the communities residing within different geographical regions and zeroes in on the five-digit shorthand for what’s happening there: the ZIP code.
The series uses the uniqueness of each ZIP code to tell the macro by focusing in on the micro, and it doesn’t shy away from difficult depictions. In 2024, “ZIP Codes” followed a 10-year-old girl being fitted for a prosthetic leg in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and with all her relatives facing horrific conditions in Gaza.
It explored immigration by focusing on an overlooked group: Black immigrants. Through the tales of Haitian migrants on both sides of the U.S. Mexico border, “ZIP Codes” detailed how much race impacts the immigration experience and specifically how anti-Black racism has left Haitians as a target while they seek a haven as their home country teeters on collapse.
And the show went to the swing state of Michigan ahead of the U.S. presidential election to speak to Black male voters who found themselves the focus of much critique, wonder, and disinformation targeting.
“ZIP Codes” uses videography and graphics to connect with audiences on multiple platforms. It creates intimacy by bringing viewers into spaces where they may otherwise not be, like a migrant woman’s makeshift tent home in Tijuana. And it does all of this in 15 minutes or less, making it the perfect bite-sized long-form video, whether the viewer is consuming on the go or in watching at home.
“ZIP Codes with Imaeyen” is a unique concept with unique access. It lives as the intersection of investigative, narrative, explanatory and solutions journalism, which makes it the ideal candidate to win this category.
