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Winners & Finalists

2010 The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls has won for "Growing Up Indian," an eight-part series that examines the daunting challenges faced by children on South Dakota's Native American reservations.

The series was produced by reporter Steve Young, photographer and multimedia producer Devin Wagner, managing editor Patrick Lalley, metro editor and project designer Jim Helland and multimedia manager Jim Cheesman.

Finalists
• The Washington Post for “Paths to Jihad,” a five-part series on the pivotal choices made by young Muslims on four continents.

Series reporters were Tara Bahrampour, Will Englund, Peter Finn, Sudarsan Raghavan and Emily Wax.
• The Sacramento Bee for “Who Killed Amariana?” a three-part series that investigates the circumstances behind the death of a 4-year-old foster child in a mysterious arson fire.

The team behind the series included Marjie Lundstrom, reporter for projects and investigations; Mitchell Brooks and Robert Dorrell, graphic artists; Hector Amezcua and José Luis Villegas, photographers; Julie Owens, team leader and universal copy desk; Amy Pyle, former assistant managing editor for projects and investigations; and Sheila Kern, researcher.
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2009 The Chicago Tribune won for “Clout Goes to College,” an in-depth look at improper influence peddling in the admissions process at the University of Illinois.

Reporters Jodi S. Cohen, Stacy St. Clair, Tara Malone and Robert Becker worked with editor Tracy Van Moorlehem and graphic artist Keith Claxton to produce the series.

Finalists
• The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) and investigative reporter J. Andrew Curliss for his “Executive Privilege” series, an investigation of the legal and ethical problems surrounding former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and his associates at N.C. State University.

Curliss wrote the series with Steve Riley, senior editor/investigations; Jay Price, staff writer; and Steve Merelman, Page One editor.
• The Wall Street Journal and reporter Farnaz Fassihi for “Hearts, Minds and Blood: The Battle for Iran,” a collection of reports that examined the harsh government crackdown on protesters in Iran following the country’s presidential election in June 2009.

Fassihi was assisted in her reporting by editors Jesse Pesta and Chip Cummins, Deputy Managing Editor Michael Williams and Steve Stecklow, senior special writer.
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2008 The Charlotte Observer won for “The Cruelest Cuts,” its coverage of health and safety violations in the poultry industry.

Reporters for the series were Ames Alexander, Franco Ordoñez, Kerry Hall and Peter St. Onge. Ted Mellnik was database editor for the series.

Finalists
• The Columbus Dispatch for its four-day series “American Divide: The Immigration Crackdown.”

Reporters were Jill Riepenhoff, Stephanie Czekalinski and Todd Jones.
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer for “Young Guns,” a series on gang violence.

Staff reporter Claudia Rowe and photographer Mike Kane produced the series together with designer John Nelson, news editor Jennifer Johnson and copy editors Bill Fink and Christina Okeso.n
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2007 Chicago Tribune Southwest Bureau Chief Howard Witt won for his coverage of racial issues in America.

Witt’s body of work, “Justice in Black and White,” included stories ranging from his groundbreaking reports on the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, to articles about the inequities of the judicial system, environmental racism and the brutal beating of Billy Ray Johnson, a mentally retarded black man in Texas. Through them all, Witt uncovered evidence of the racial tension that continues to divide America.

Finalists
• The Palm Beach Post and staff writer Christine Evans for the five-part series “America’s New Main Street: The Many Faces of Immigration.”
• Rocky Mountain News and its four-day series “Beyond the Boom,”  which examines the impact of oil drilling on Colorado’s citizens, environment and economy, and uncovers both the positive and negative consequences of the oil boom.

The team behind the Rocky Mountain series included reporters Laura Frank, Gargi Chakrabarty, Todd Hartman and Burt Hubbard; Matt McClain, photographer; Michael Hall, graphics; Steve Miller, designer; and Tim Burroughs, copy editor.
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2006 Lancaster New Era won for the series "Lost Angels" about the shooting of 10 Amish girls in a one-room school house in rural Pennsylvania.

Finalists
• The New York Times and reporter Tim Golden for his stories exposing U.S. government secrecy about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.
• The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and reporter John Mangels for his portrayal of a highly respected researcher in the science of plagues and the series of events that put him in federal prison accused of endangering national security.
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2005 The Sacramento Bee won for the series "The Pineros: Men of the pines" by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua that describes how Latinos who are now the major source of manual labor in America's forest industry are misused and abused under the noses of government officials.

Finalists
• The Blade of Toledo for the series "State of Turmoil," which explained how a $50 million investment in a rare-coin fund controlled by one of President Bush's biggest Ohio fundraisers became a major political scandal. Columbus Bureau Chief James Drew and staff writers Mike Wilkinson, Steve Eder, Christopher D. Kirkpatrick, Joshua Boak and Jim Tankersley reported on the scandal. Special Assignments Editor Dave Murray managed The Blade's investigation.
• East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Az., for "Mesa en Transición," a series that examines the fundamental demographic and cultural shift that is changing Mesa into a primarily Hispanic city from one that's been heavily identified with white Mormons since it was founded almost 130 years ago.

Mary K. Reinhart, Kristina Davis, Blake Herzog, John Yantis, Brian Powell, CeCe Todd, Jennifer Pinner, Slim Smith, Leigh Shelle Hunt and Julio Jimenez contributed to the series. Patti Epler was the project editor.
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2004 The Star-Ledger of Newark won for the series "Last Chance High" about an alternative school for teenagers with serious behavioral problems written by reporter Robin Gaby Fisher with photographs by Matt Rainey.

Finalists
• Akron Beacon Journal for the series "Home Schooling: Whose Business Is It?" reported by Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger.
• The Orange County Register for "Toxic Treats," an investigative report about lead in imported candy, with stories by Jenifer B. McKim, Keith Sharon, William Heisel, Valeria Godines and Hanh Kim Quach.
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2003 The Blade of Toledo won for its report "Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths" that uncovered Vietnam-era war crimes kept secret for three and a half decades.

Finalists
• The Wall Street Journal stories examined the impact and reasons why people without health insurance are forced to pay more for health care. The stories were reported by Lucette Lagnado.
• The Des Moines Register covered Iowa State University Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy's partying with students that led to his dismissal. The chief reporters were Tom Witosky and Randy Peterson.
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2002 The Boston Globe Spotlight Team won for its coverage of the sexual-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and its outstanding effort to examine charges and accusations from all sides and sources.

Finalists
• The Plain Dealer of Cleveland was recognized for the series "Burden of Innocence" that unflinchingly examines the bitter-sweet life of Michael Green, who was released from prison after serving 13 years for a rape he didn't commit.
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was chosen its coverage of chronic wasting disease in deer: the risk to the deer population, its impact on hunting and its potential impact on Wisconsin's dairy cows.
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2001 The Hartford Courant won for an article by Les Gura about an instructor at Yale University who became the focus of stories that unfairly cast him as a murder suspect.

Finalists
• The Sun of Baltimore was recognized for its story explaining the police and judicial process that resulted in a jury acquittal of a Baltimore teenager accused of killing a police officer.
• The Chicago Tribune was honored for the series "Cops and Confessions" examining how Chicago police obtained false confessions from African-American young men with criminal records.
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