reporting for which he was nominated or won prizes include articles about iraqi children kidnapped by the islamic state, a guantánamo bay inmate, and syrian orphans from aleppo who ended up as child slaves in turkey. in 2017, "der spiegel" sent relotius for three weeks to fergus falls, minnesota, to write an article about donald trump supporters "to give readers better insight into americans." these articles were all found to contain falsifications. relotius had also faked interviews with the parents of nfl footballer colin kaepernick.