Finalist: The Denver Post, by John Ingold, Joe Amon and Lindsay Pierce
For an intimate and troubling portrayal of how Colorado's relaxed marijuana laws have drawn hundreds of parents to the state to seek miracle cures for desperately ill children.
Nominated Work
December 5, 2014
"Ana Watson and her family moved from North Carolina to Colorado with the dream that medical marijuana would help her 12-year-old son, Preston, and stop his relentless grand mal seizures. Their journey was harder than they expected. The answers were more elusive than the happy anecdotes seemed to promise. But they kept pressing forward because they said they had no other choice. Because Colorado was the only hope they had left. The story of Preston and Ana was told in a multimedia presentation and a three-day series in print. This was the 39-minute documentary video that accompanied that series." -- from the entry PDF
December 7, 2014
Although designed as an integrated web presentation, ten selections from "Desperate Journey" were entered in PDF form for the 2015 competition. Comprising the core of the entry and the presentation, "Desperate Journey" (Part 1), "We've tried it all" (Part 2), and "Pushing Ahead" (Part 3) were serialized in The Denver Post from December 7 to December 9, 2014. Several videos and photo galleries are interspersed throughout the presentation, including profiles of Haleigh and Janéa Cox that were included in the entry. "CBD treatment has a history of roadblocks" (December 8, 2014), "Neurologist cautious on oil’s benefits" (December 8, 2014), and "Girl’s story led to boom" (December 9, 2014) can be read as sidebars in the main presentation alongside several smaller pieces that were not entered.
December 7, 2014
Another entry component, Joe Amon's profile of Preston and Ana Watson, was not included in the main "Desperate Journey" presentation.
January 26, 2015
To The Judges:
From political slugfests to late-night comedy punchlines, the public dialogue about marijuana in Colorado has focused largely on the issue of the drug’s legalization for recreational purposes. But in “Desperate Journey,” a team of journalists from The Denver Post introduces readers to a burgeoning medical marijuana subculture — families who have migrated to the state in search of a cannabis-based cure for their seizure-ridden children.
Some heard the siren call of a “marijuana miracle,” but the project thoroughly examines the complicated truth behind an elusive myth as parents try to navigate uncharted territory beyond the boundaries of traditional medicine. The influx of families began a little more than a year ago, amid publicity about the state’s relaxed marijuana laws and an oil extract that acts in a different way than most commercial cannabis. Instead of the psychoactive chemical THC, it is rich in CBD — cannabidiol — which has shown medicinal potential, particularly as a thread of hope for kids seeking relief from incurable forms of childhood epilepsy. Since the summer of 2013, the number of children under 18 whose names now fill Colorado’s medical marijuana registry has spiked from fewer than 60 to more than 400, with more arriving every month.
Reporter John Ingold, who in five years of covering marijuana issues has become one of the nation’s most authoritative journalistic voices on the subject, untangles the complexities surrounding the science, the fluid semi-legality surrounding cannabis use and the production of cannabis oil from which more and more families draw optimism. He folds these explanations into an irresistible narrative built around the journey of single mom Ana Watson and her 12-year-old son, Preston, who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome, as they make the cross-country trek from North Carolina in search of their own miracle.
Photojournalist Joe Amon translates the story into vivid images that add a thoughtful dimension to the storytelling, with pictures that range from tender to haunting as they open a window to the love and turmoil that characterizes the family’s journey.
Videojournalist Lindsay Pierce, who produced a documentary film as a companion to the printed and digital version, probes the problems that beset the move to Colorado and the frustrating trial-and-error process of calibrating Preston’s dosage of CBD. In the nearly 39-minute piece, her camera work, and artful editing aided by Mahala Gaylord, capture Preston’s affectionate personality as well as the frequent seizures that appear in barely apparent eye fluttering or violent convulsions. In visuals both subtle and dramatic, the film
bares the intense emotions that drive Ana’s quest.
In concert, the multi-media elements of “Desperate Journey” sketch a detailed portrait of the possibilities that continue to draw families to Colorado and add exhaustive yet accessible context — from straightforward explanations of the manufacture of CBD oil to the traditional medical community’s tentative response to its impact.
And ultimately, the work explores an even larger theme. Yes, these families flock to Colorado so their kids can gain access to a potential medical breakthrough. But they also become part of a growing community moved by a mixture of desperation and unflagging commitment to seek comfort for their children in what one mother calls “a state of hope.”
We are proud to nominate this insightful coverage for consideration of a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.
Gregory L. Moore, editor
Biography
John Ingold is a staff writer at The Denver Post.
Joe Amon joined the photography staff at The Denver Post in 2008.
Lindsay Pierce joined The Denver Post in 2011.
Winners
Prize Winner in Explanatory Reporting in 2015:
Zachary R. Mider
For a painstaking, clear and entertaining explanation of how so many U.S. corporations dodge taxes and why lawmakers and regulators have a hard time stopping them.
Explanatory Reporting
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Explanatory Reporting in 2015:
Joan Biskupic, Janet Roberts and John Shiffman
For using data analysis to reveal how an elite cadre of lawyers enjoy extraordinary access to the U.S. Supreme Court, raising doubts about the ideal of equal justice.
The Jury
The Jury
Jennifer Orsi(Chair )
managing editor
Deb Anderluh
senior editor for investigations and enterprise
Thomas Fladung
managing editor
Amalie Nash
editor and vice president for audience engagement
Monica Richardson
managing editor
Cliff Schechtman
executive editor
Jeff Taylor*
editor and vice president/news
Winners in Explanatory Reporting
Eli Saslow
For his unsettling and nuanced reporting on the prevalence of food stamps in post-recession America, forcing readers to grapple with issues of poverty and dependency.
Staff
For its penetrating look into business practices by Apple and other technology companies that illustrates the darker side of a changing global economy for workers and consumers.
David Kocieniewski
For his lucid series that penetrated a legal thicket to explain how the nation's wealthiest citizens and corporations often exploited loopholes and avoided taxes.
Mark Johnson, Kathleen Gallagher, Gary Porter, Lou Saldivar and Alison Sherwood
For their lucid examination of an epic effort to use genetic technology to save a 4-year-old boy imperiled by a mysterious disease, told with words, graphics, videos and other images.
2015 Prize Winners
Anthony Doerr
An imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology.
Julia Wolfe
A powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life around the turn of the 20th Century.
Stephen Adly Guirgis
A nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police officer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death.
David I. Kertzer
An engrossing dual biography that uses recently opened Vatican archives to shed light on two men who exercised nearly absolute power over their realms.