Local Reporting

For a distinguished example of coverage of significant issues of concern to a local community, city or state, demonstrating originality and continuous community connection, using any available journalistic tool, Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).

Year

Winners

Finalists

2026

Dave Altimari and Ginny Monk of The Connecticut Mirror and Sophie Chou and Haru Coryne of ProPublica

For an impressive series exposing how the state’s unique towing laws favored unscrupulous companies that overcharged residents, prompting swift and meaningful consumer protections.

Staff of the Chicago Tribune

For its powerful coverage of the Trump administration’s militarized immigration sweep of the city that described in vivid, muscular prose how the siege-like incursion of ICE agents unified Chicagoans in resistance. (Moved by the Board from the Public Service category, where it was originally entered and nominated.)

Finalists:

Liz Bowie, Greg Morton, Ryan Little and Allan James Vestal of The Baltimore Banner

Staffs of the Miami Herald and WLRN

Liz Bowie, Greg Morton, Ryan Little and Allan James Vestal of The Baltimore Banner

Staffs of the Miami Herald and WLRN

2025

Alissa Zhu, Nick Thieme and Jessica Gallagher of The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times

For a compassionate investigative series that captured the breathtaking dimensions of Baltimore’s fentanyl crisis and its disproportionate impact on older Black men, creating a sophisticated statistical model that The Banner shared with other newsrooms.

Finalists:

Mike Reicher, Lynda Mapes, Fiona Martin and Kevin Clark of The Seattle Times

Katey Rusch and Casey Smith, contributors, San Francisco Chronicle, in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program

Mike Reicher, Lynda Mapes, Fiona Martin and Kevin Clark of The Seattle Times

Katey Rusch and Casey Smith, contributors, San Francisco Chronicle, in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program

2024

Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute

For their investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago that revealed how systemic racism and police department neglect contributed to the crisis.

Finalists:

Jerry Mitchell, Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield of Mississippi Today and The New York Times

Staff of The Villages Daily Sun

Jerry Mitchell, Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield of Mississippi Today and The New York Times

Staff of The Villages Daily Sun

2023

Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, Ridgeland, Miss.

For reporting that revealed how a former Mississippi governor used his office to steer millions of state welfare dollars to benefit his family and friends, including NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens of AL.com, Birmingham

For a series exposing how the police force in the town of Brookside preyed on residents to inflate revenue, coverage that prompted the resignation of the police chief, four new laws and a state audit.

Finalists:

Staff of the Los Angeles Times

2022

Madison Hopkins of the Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes of the Chicago Tribune

For a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.

Finalists:

Lulu Ramadan of The Palm Beach Post and Ash Ngu, Maya Miller and Nadia Sussman of ProPublica

Tony Cook, Johnny Magdaleno and Michelle Pemberton of The Indianapolis Star

Lulu Ramadan of The Palm Beach Post and Ash Ngu, Maya Miller and Nadia Sussman of ProPublica

Tony Cook, Johnny Magdaleno and Michelle Pemberton of The Indianapolis Star

2021

Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times

For resourceful, creative reporting that exposed how a powerful and politically connected sheriff built a secretive intelligence operation that harassed residents and used grades and child welfare records to profile schoolchildren.

Finalists:

Staff of The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Jack Dolan and Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times

Staff of The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Jack Dolan and Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times

2020

Staff of The Baltimore Sun

For illuminating, impactful reporting on a lucrative, undisclosed financial relationship between the city’s mayor and the public hospital system she helped to oversee.

Finalists:

Staff of The Boston Globe

Peter Smith, Stephanie Strasburg and Shelly Bradbury of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Staff of The Boston Globe

Peter Smith, Stephanie Strasburg and Shelly Bradbury of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

2019

Staff of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

For a damning portrayal of the state’s discriminatory conviction system, including a Jim Crow-era law, that enabled Louisiana courts to send defendants to jail without jury consensus on the accused’s guilt.

Finalists:

Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus, MaryJo Webster and Renée Jones Schneider of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.

Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman, Dylan Purcell and Jessica Griffin of The Philadelphia Inquirer

Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus, MaryJo Webster and Renée Jones Schneider of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.

Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman, Dylan Purcell and Jessica Griffin of The Philadelphia Inquirer

2018

Staff of The Cincinnati Enquirer

For a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati's heroin epidemic, revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities.

Finalists:

Staff of The Boston Globe

Jason Grotto, Sandhya Kambhampati and Ray Long of Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois

Staff of The Boston Globe

Jason Grotto, Sandhya Kambhampati and Ray Long of Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois

2017

The Salt Lake Tribune Staff

For a string of vivid reports revealing the perverse, punitive and cruel treatment given to sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University, one of Utah’s most powerful institutions.

Finalists:

Michael Schwirtz, Michael Winerip and Robert Gebeloff of The New York Times

Jenna Russell, Maria Cramer, Michael Rezendes, Todd Wallack and Scott Helman of The Boston Globe

Michael Schwirtz, Michael Winerip and Robert Gebeloff of The New York Times

Jenna Russell, Maria Cramer, Michael Rezendes, Todd Wallack and Scott Helman of The Boston Globe

2016

Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of Tampa Bay Times

For exposing a local school board's culpability in turning some county schools into failure factories, with tragic consequences for the community. (Moved by the Board from the Public Service category, where it was also entered.)

Finalists:

Michael Sallah, Emily Michot, Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Sohail Al-Jamea of Miami Herald

Sarah Maslin Nir of The New York Times

Chris Serres, Glenn Howatt and David Joles of Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN

Michael Sallah, Emily Michot, Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Sohail Al-Jamea of Miami Herald

Sarah Maslin Nir of The New York Times

Chris Serres, Glenn Howatt and David Joles of Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN

2015

Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA

For their inquiry into widespread corruption in a small, cash-strapped school district, including impressive use of the paper's website.

Finalists:

Joe Mahr, Joseph Ryan and Matthew Walberg of Chicago Tribune

Ziva Branstetter and Cary Aspinwall of Tulsa World

Joe Mahr, Joseph Ryan and Matthew Walberg of Chicago Tribune

Ziva Branstetter and Cary Aspinwall of Tulsa World

2014

Will Hobson and Michael LaForgia of Tampa Bay Times

For their relentless investigation into the squalid conditions that marked housing for the city's substantial homeless population, leading to swift reforms.

Finalists:

Joan Garrett McClane, Todd South, Doug Strickland and Mary Helen Miller of Chattanooga Times Free Press

Rebecca D. O'Brien and Thomas Mashberg of The Record, Woodland Park, NJ

Joan Garrett McClane, Todd South, Doug Strickland and Mary Helen Miller of Chattanooga Times Free Press

Rebecca D. O'Brien and Thomas Mashberg of The Record, Woodland Park, NJ

2013

Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson and Glenn Howatt of Star Tribune, Minneapolis

For their powerful reports on the spike in infant deaths at poorly regulated day-care homes, resulting in legislative action to strengthen rules.

Finalists:

Ames Alexander and Karen Garloch, Joseph Neff and David Raynor of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer/The News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

David Breen, Stephen Hudak, Jeff Kunerth and Denise-Marie Ordway of Orlando (FL) Sentinel

Ames Alexander and Karen Garloch, Joseph Neff and David Raynor of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer/The News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

David Breen, Stephen Hudak, Jeff Kunerth and Denise-Marie Ordway of Orlando (FL) Sentinel

2012

Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff, Harrisburg, PA

For courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Finalists:

Staff of California Watch, Berkeley

A.M. Sheehan and Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling of Advertiser Democrat, Norway, Maine, a weekly

Staff of California Watch, Berkeley

A.M. Sheehan and Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling of Advertiser Democrat, Norway, Maine, a weekly

2011

Frank Main, Mark Konkol and John J. Kim of Chicago Sun-Times

For their immersive documentation of violence in Chicago neighborhoods, probing the lives of victims, criminals and detectives as a widespread code of silence impedes solutions.

Finalists:

Marshall Allen and Alex Richards of Las Vegas Sun

Stanley Nelson of Concordia (La.) Sentinel

Marshall Allen and Alex Richards of Las Vegas Sun

Stanley Nelson of Concordia (La.) Sentinel

2010

Raquel Rutledge of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

For her penetrating reports on the fraud and abuse in a child-care program for low-wage working parents that fleeced taxpayers and imperiled children, resulting in a state and federal crackdown on providers.

Finalists:

Dave Philipps of The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO

Ben Montgomery, Waveney Ann Moore and photographer Edmund D. Fountain of St. Petersburg Times

Dave Philipps of The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO

Ben Montgomery, Waveney Ann Moore and photographer Edmund D. Fountain of St. Petersburg Times

2009

Detroit Free Press Staff, and notably Jim Schaefer and M.L. Elrick

For their uncovering of a pattern of lies by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that included denial of a sexual relationship with his female chief of staff, prompting an investigation of perjury that eventually led to jail terms for the two officials.

Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ

For their adroit use of limited resources to reveal, in print and online, how a popular sheriff's focus on immigration enforcement endangered investigation of violent crime and other aspects of public safety.

Finalists:

Brendan McCarthy, Michael DeMocker and Ryan Smith of The Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA