Finalist: The Times Picayune , by Brendan McCarthy, Michael DeMocker and Ryan Smith
For their multifaceted examination of a murder case that showed deep understanding of the community, its social ills and the often frustrating path to justice.
Winners
Prize Winner in Local Reporting in 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.
Local Reporting
The Jury
The Jury
Mizell Stewart III(chair )
editor
John M. Arthur
executive editor
William Skip Hidlay
president and publisher
Joel Kramer
c.e.o. and editor
Ed Petykiewicz
editor
Paul Pronovost
editor
Winners in Local Reporting
David Umhoefer
For his stories on the skirting of tax laws to pad pensions of county employees, prompting change and possible prosecution of key figures.
Debbie Cenziper
For reports on waste, favoritism and lack of oversight at the Miami housing agency that resulted in dismissals, investigations and prosecutions.
2009 Prize Winners
Patrick Farrell
For his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti.
W.S. Merwin
A collection of luminous, often tender poems that focus on the profound power of memory.
Las Vegas Sun, and notably the courageous reporting by Alexandra Berzon
For the exposure of the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations, leading to changes in policy and improved safety conditions.
Staff
For its swift and sweeping coverage of a sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, breaking the story on its Web site and then developing it with authoritative, rapid-fire reports.