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The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Investigative Reporting

Finalist: 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.

Nominated Work

Biography

Steve Reilly is a reporter on USA Today’s national investigative team. He previously worked for newspapers in Pennsylvania and New York. A Pennsylvania native, he is a graduate of Vassar College. He lives in northern Virginia. He was a finalist, in 2015 and 2016, for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.

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:

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.

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