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The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Investigative Reporting

Finalist: Chicago Tribune, by Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan

For breaking through a wall of secrecy for a gripping series that documented official neglect and uncovered wholesale abuse and 42 deaths at Illinois group homes for developmentally disabled adults.

Nominated Work

Biography

Michael J. Berens is an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He entered journalism as a copy boy while attending The Ohio State University. He worked for 13 years at The Columbus Dispatch, six years at the Chicago Tribune then ten years at The Seattle Times, where he was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize of investigative reporting. He returned to the Tribune about two years ago. He has twice been a Pulitzer finalist and played a small role in a team Pulitzer awarded in 2015 to The Seattle Times for breaking news coverage. Spanning a wide array of projects, recent awards include the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism; Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE); Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting; Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award, White House Correspondents Association; Society of American Business Editors and Writers; National Press Club; and the Gerald Loeb Award. Berens is a former adjunct professor for Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism graduate program, where he taught analytical journalism techniques. He has been a trainer and panelist for such journalism groups as IRE, the Associated Press Media Editors (NewsTrain), and University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism (California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships).

 

Patricia Callahan, who has shared two Pulitzer Prizes, has been a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter since 2004. She launched the Tribune investigation that proved the nation’s top consumer product safety agency failed to protect children. The series, which prompted the recall of more than 1 million baby products, won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting and spurred Congress to pass the largest overhaul of consumer product safety laws in a generation. With two Tribune colleagues, she also uncovered a decades-long campaign of deception by the tobacco and chemical industries that brought flame retardants into our homes and into our bodies despite the fact that these toxic chemicals don't work as promised. In the wake of that investigation, which won 11 national awards and was a finalist for a 2013 Pulitzer Prize, regulators scrapped of the rule responsible for the flame retardants packed into American furniture. Previously, Callahan was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and also was part of the Denver Post team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for coverage of the Columbine High School shootings. She graduated with highest distinction from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Callahan and her husband, Scott Kilman, live in suburban Chicago with their three children.

Winners

Prize Winner in Investigative Reporting in 2017:

Eric Eyre

For courageous reporting, performed in the face of powerful opposition, to expose the flood of opioids flowing into depressed West Virginia counties with the highest overdose death rates in the country. Investigative Reporting

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Investigative Reporting in 2017:

Steve Reilly of USA Today Network

For a far-reaching investigation that used two ambitious data-gathering efforts to turn up 9,000 teachers across the nation who should have been flagged for past disciplinary offenses but were not.

The Jury

Jim Neff(Chair)

Assistant Managing Editor

Ken Armstrong*

Staff Writer

David Barstow*

Senior Writer

Jennifer LaFleur

Senior Editor

Joanne Lipman

Chief Content Editor, Gannett; Editor-in-Chief, USA Today Network

Gary Putka

Executive Editor

Gordon Russell

Managing Editor, Investigations

Winners in Investigative Reporting

2015

Eric Lipton

For reporting that showed how the influence of lobbyists can sway congressional leaders and state attorneys general, slanting justice toward the wealthy and connected.
2014

Chris Hamby

For his reports on how some lawyers and doctors rigged a system to deny benefits to coal miners stricken with black lung disease, resulting in remedial legislative efforts.
See All Investigative Reporting

2017 Prize Winners

Feature Writing

C. J. Chivers

For showing, through an artful accumulation of fact and detail, that a Marine’s postwar descent into violence reflected neither the actions of a simple criminal nor a stereotypical case of PTSD.
Commentary

Peggy Noonan

For rising to the moment with beautifully rendered columns that connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation’s most divisive political campaigns.
Criticism

Hilton Als

For bold and original reviews that strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race.
Editorial Writing

Art Cullen

For editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa.
See All 2017 Winners