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The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Local Reporting

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

For dogged scientific investigation and evocative storytelling that exposed toxic dangers lurking in Philadelphia school buildings that sickened children in their classrooms.

Nominated Work

Biography

A native of Kent, England, Barbara Laker came to the United States with her family when she was 12. She graduated from the University of Missouri Journalism School in 1979 and has been a reporter ever since. Laker has worked for the Clearwater Sun, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Dallas Times-Herald and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, before joining the Philadelphia Daily News in 1993. She has written about everything from murder and corruption to AIDS and child abuse. With Daily News colleague Wendy Ruderman, she won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism for their series, “Tainted Justice,” about a rogue narcotics squad in the Philadelphia Police Department. Laker co-authored the book, “BUSTED: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love,” with Ruderman in 2014. Laker is currently an investigative reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com.

Wendy Ruderman has been a reporter since 1991. She has a master's from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has worked as a staff reporter for the Associated Press, Bergen Record, Trenton Times, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. Ruderman and Daily News colleague Barbara Laker won the 2010 Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting for a series about a rogue narcotics squad. She is currently an investigative reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dylan Purcell is a reporter on the Inquirer’s investigative team specializing in data. His work has uncovered low conviction rates for violent crimes, widespread cheating on state tests and the high rate of newborn deaths following heart surgery at a for-profit hospital. He was a member of the reporting team that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for an examination of pervasive violence in Philadelphia’s public schools. Most recently, Purcell has focused on the dangers of environmental hazards faced by urban children.

Jessica Griffin is a staff photographer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Prior to the merger of the Inquirer and the Daily News in 2016, Jessica was a staff photographer at the Philadelphia Daily News, starting in 2004. She received the Paul Vathis Memorial Photography Portfolio Award from the Associated Press Managing Editors in 2007. Her work has been cited for excellence by the Pennsylania Newspaper Association as well as the Philadelphia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before working at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, Jessica spent four years as a staff photographer at the Philadelphia Weekly. During that time, she was a freelance photographer for the Associated Press and the resident photographer for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Jessica is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking at Temple University.

Winners

Prize Winner in Local Reporting in 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. Local Reporting

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Local Reporting in 2019:

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

For an illuminating and disturbing series that exposed breakdowns in Minnesota’s investigation and prosecution of rape cases, and how such ineptitude fails victims of sexual assault.

The Jury

Lee Ann Colacioppo(Chair)

Editor

Terry Baquet

Director, Community Engagement/InsideOut Editor

Eric Eyre*

Statehouse Reporter

Sherrie Marshall

Retired Executive Editor

Cindy McCurry-Ross

Executive Editor, The (Fort Myers) News-Press/Regional Editor, USA Today Network

Jennifer Preston

Vice President, Journalism

Paul Pronovost

Executive Editor

Winners in Local Reporting

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.
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.
2016

Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner

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.)
See All Local Reporting

2019 Prize Winners

See All 2019 Winners