Finalist: The Washington Post
For groundbreaking, data-driven journalism that used previously hidden government records and confidential company documents to provide unprecedented insight into America’s deadly opioid epidemic.
Nominated Work
July 22, 2019
August 15, 2019
September 13, 2019
March 13, 2019
August 13, 2019
December 6, 2019
December 23, 2019
Winners
Prize Winner in Public Service in 2020:
Anchorage Daily News with contributions from ProPublica
For a riveting series that revealed a third of Alaska’s villages had no police protection, took authorities to task for decades of neglect, and spurred an influx of money and legislative changes.
Public Service
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Public Service in 2020:
The New York Times
For exemplary reporting that exposed the breadth and impact of a political war on science, including systematic dismantling of federal regulations and policy.
The Jury
The Jury
Mark Whitaker(Chair)
Author/Journalist, New York City
Dana Banker
Managing Editor, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Michael J. Berens*
Investigative Reporter, Thomson Reuters
Rick Hutzell
Editor, Capital Gazette/Baltimore Sun Media
Jennifer Preston
Vice President, Journalism, Knight Foundation
Paul Pronovost
Retired Executive Editor/General Manager, Cape Cod Times
Winners in Public Service
South Florida Sun Sentinel
For exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The New York Times, for reporting led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker, for reporting by Ronan Farrow
For explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators, including allegations against one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, bringing them to account for long-suppressed allegations of coercion, brutality and victim silencing, thus spurring a worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women.
New York Daily News and ProPublica
For uncovering, primarily through the work of reporter Sarah Ryley, widespread abuse of eviction rules by the police to oust hundreds of people, most of them poor minorities.
Associated Press
For an investigation of severe labor abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants, reporting that freed 2,000 slaves, brought perpetrators to justice and inspired reforms.
2020 Prize Winners
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
For a sweeping, provocative and personal essay for the ground-breaking 1619 Project, which seeks to place the enslavement of Africans at the center of America’s story, prompting public conversation about the nation’s founding and evolution.
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
For work demonstrating extraordinary community service by a critic, applying his expertise and enterprise to critique a proposed overhaul of the L.A. County Museum of Art and its effect on the institution’s mission.
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
For editorials that exposed how pre-trial inmates died horrific deaths in a small Texas county jail—reflecting a rising trend across the state—and courageously took on the local sheriff and judicial establishment, which tried to cover up these needless tragedies.
Staff of The Washington Post
For a groundbreaking series that showed with scientific clarity the dire effects of extreme temperatures on the planet.