For a distinguished example of breaking news photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album, Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).

Rocky Mountain News, by Photography Staff

For its powerful, imaginative coverage of Colorado's raging forest fires.

Lee Bollinger and Barry Gutierrez — Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger (left) presents Barry Gutierrez of the Rocky Mountain News Photo Staff with the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography.

Winning Work

As Colorado burns in the summer of 2002, flames from a new fire loom menacingly behind a mountain home near Durango. The Valley Fire broke out less than a mile west of the fiercely burning Missionary Ridge Fire in the Animas River Valley near southwest Colorado's major north-south highway. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - June 26, 2002)

500-foot flames balloon over Haflin Canyon on Missionary Ridge north of Durango. With 30 percent contained, the fire forced evacuation of more than 1,200 homes. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - June 26, 2002)

Margie Dleva and her son Spencer, 4, stopped at a roadblock to volunteer when news came that the Hayman Fire shifted threatening their home near Deckers, Colorado. Spencer dressed as a firefighter because he wanted to help. (Linda McConnell, Rocky Mountain News - June 11, 2002)

Firefighter Daniel Crawford catches his breath after battling the Hayman Fire near Deckers all day. The blaze, which ultimately consumed 137,000 acres and destroyed 132 homes, exploded to nearly 87,000 acres that day. (Steven G. Smith, Rocky Mountain News - June 28, 2002)

Smoke clouds dwarf a helicopter as it valiantly fights the raging Missionary Ridge Fire near Durango. Firefighters described the blaze as an "eating machine" that threatened hundreds of homes. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - June 19, 2002)

A barn bursts into flames after it is caught in the Valley Fire, a smaller blaze that broke out near the much larger Missionary Ridge Fire northeast of Durango. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - June 26, 2002)

A man jumps from the roof of his house near Durango after wetting it down to keep it safe from fire. The water on the roof reflects flickering flames nearby from the Valley fire. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - June 26, 2002)

A PB4Y-2 slurry bomber plunges to the ground in flames while fighting the Big Elk Fire near Estes Park, killing its two pilots. Witnesses said a wing came off the aircraft, then a fireball emerged as the plane prepared to drop slurry on the 1,200-acre wildfire. (Matt Inden, Rocky Mountain News - July 20, 2002)

At memorial services for her father, Milt Stollak, 56, and Rick Schwartz, 39, pilots of a slurry bomber that crashed fighting the Big Elk Fire near Estes Park, Brandi Stollak carries a flag presented by a U.S. Forest Service honor guard. Behind her is Mike Stubbs, a cousin of Schwartz. (Joe Mahoney, Rocky Mountain News - July 25, 2002)

A helicopter flies over the burned remains of a forest near Cheesman Reservoir that was destroyed by the Hayman Fire. A Douglas County sheriff's official called the day "the worst yet" for Colorado's largest wildfire in history. (Hal Stoelzle, Rocky Mountain News - June 28, 2002)

Friends of U.S Forest Service employee Terry Barton react to the news that Barton had been charged with setting the biggest wildfire in Colorado history. Barton said she was burning a letter from her estranged husband and the blaze got out of control. "I don't want to believe. I can't believe one of our own did this to us!" said Gene Penny, at left. (Dennis Schroeder, Rocky Mountain News - June 17, 2002)

A P3 Orion bomber drops a load of fire retardant on the Big Elk Fire near Estes Park. The slurry bombers, some of World War II vintage, encountered numerous mechanical breakdowns, broken parts or other problems fighting fires in Colorado. (Barry Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News - July 22, 2002)

Smoke smudges the face of Dave Kahan, a tree faller from Ettersburg, Calif., after a long day's work fighting the Big Elk Fire in the Homestead Meadows National Historic District between Lyons and Estes Park. (Todd Heisler, Rocky Mountain News - July 23, 2002)

West of Glenwood Springs, the Coal Seam Fire burns along Interstate 70. The wildfire was believed to have been ignited by a burning underground coal seam. (George Kochaniec Jr., Rocky Mountain News - June 11, 2002)

Evacuated residents Don Hunter, Jackie Tripp, Darla Carlton and David Tenbroeke recite the Pledge of Allegiance before a community briefing at Cotopaxi High School, west of the area raked by the Iron Mountain Fire. More than 80 homes were destroyed by the fire but residents didn't know yet which ones. (Steven G. Smith, Rocky Mountain News - June 4, 2002)

Evacuees in San Miguel County listen to music while they help the local sheriff maintain a roadblock. The Burn Canyon Fire they were watching threatened homes near Norwood. (George Kochaniec Jr., Rocky Mountain News - July 15, 2002)

Eugene Brumley tries to get in a round of golf as the Hayman Fire rages in the background. Brumley was playing at Shining Mountain Golf Club outside Woodland park. "It can be kind of frightening to look up and see all that smoke," he said. (Steven G. Smith, Rocky Mountain News - June 21, 2002)

Scorched propane tanks and a burned-out car sit at the Robin Hood Trailer Park in West Glenwood Springs, destroyed by the Coal Seam Fire. (George Kochaniec Jr., Rocky Mountain News - June 10, 2002)

A dead cow, consumed by a massive wall of flames, lies in the burned-out forest left by the Hayman Fire. Livestock and wildlife died inthe blaze southwest of Denver, which consumed tens of thousands of acres. (Linda McConnell, Rocky Mountain News - June 28, 2002)

Residents of Lake George, in the foothills southwest of Denver, react at a briefing to the news that the Hayman Fire was approaching their town and that it could take up to three months to fully contain the blaze. (Dennis Schroeder, Rocky Mountain News - June 13, 2002)