The investigations of the paper trail media-journalists bring change and increase accountability. So far, more than $2 billion have been recouped due to investigations like the Panama Papers or the Paradise Papers, thousands of investigations have been launched, dozens of criminals sentenced. Politicians as Austria's former vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, Pakistans prime minister Nawaz Sharif or Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stepped back after revelations about their wrongdoings. U.N. High Commissioner Michele Bachelet referenced paper trail media's #XinjiangPoliceFiles-reporting in her Xinjiang-report. But first and foremost, the investigations sparked international debates and showed time and again the importance of a free press. 

The expertise of our journalists, their work and their insights were featured in numerous international books, radio, podcasts and TV documentaries. They appear in live TV interviews, talk shows and features, they are regularly quoted in newspapers and have large following in social media. Together with paper trail medias's international partners they raise their voices for press freedom and gather behind harassed colleagues.

The story-telling aspect is crucial for investigations to stand out. And sometimes our investigations get picked up by major entertainment studios and turned into motion pictures or limited series. Steven Soderbergh's star ridden movie "The Laundromat" is based on the Panama Papers (two of our reporters even appear for a second), and the limited series "Die Ibiza Affäre" by Sky is directly based on the same named book of Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer. Other projects are already in the pipeline.

The work of paper trail media's journalists has been honored by some of the most prestigious journalism prizes. Individually or as members of larger teams they won among others:

• Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
• European Press Prize
• Barlett & Steele Award
• Investigative-Reporters-and-Editors-Award
• Roy-Roward-Awards
• Scripps-Howard-Award
• George-Polk-Award
• IJ4EU Impact Award
• EPPY-Award

• Otto-Brenner-Preis 
• Reporter:innen-Preis
• Nannen-Preis
• CNN-Award
• Wächterpreis der Tagespresse
• Helmut-Schmidt-Journalistenpreis
• Deutscher Journalistenpreis
• Die Journalisten des Jahres
• Theodor-Wolff-Preis
• Dr. Georg-Schreiber-Medienpreis
• Ernst-Schneider-Preis
• Hermann-Schulze-Delitzsch-Preis
• Georg von Holtzbrinck-Preis für Wirtschaftsjournalismus
• Leuchtturm-Preis für besondere publizistische Leistungen