For a distinguished example of local, state or national reporting of breaking news that, as quickly as possible, captures events accurately as they occur, and, as time passes, illuminates, provides context and expands upon the initial coverage, Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
For its rapid coverage of hundreds of last-minute pardons by Kentucky’s governor, showing how the process was marked by opacity, racial disparities and violations of legal norms. (Moved by the jury from Local Reporting, where it was originally entered.)
Staff members from The Courier-Journal (from left: Mary Irby-Jones, Andy Wolfson and Joe Sonka) accept the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger. (Jose Lopez/The Pulitzer Prizes)
Winning Work
December 13, 2019
December 17, 2019
December 19, 2019
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Breaking News Reporting in 2020:
Staff of the Los Angeles Times
For dynamic coverage that expertly blended multimedia components, frequent updates and rich narrative to report on a devastating California boat fire that killed 34 people.
Staff of The Washington Post
For incisive coverage of back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that contextualized these events for a national audience.
The Jury
The Jury
Zahira Torres(Chair)
Senior Editor, Local Reporting Network, ProPublica
Bill Grueskin
Professor of Professional Practice in Journalism, Columbia University
Akoto Ofori-Atta
Managing Editor, The Trace
Maria Reeve
Managing Editor/Content, Houston Chronicle
Matthew Watkins
Managing Editor, News/Politics, The Texas Tribune
Winners in Breaking News Reporting
Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.
Staff of The Press Democrat
For lucid and tenacious coverage of historic wildfires that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, expertly utilizing an array of tools, including photography, video and social media platforms, to bring clarity to its readers — in real time and in subsequent in-depth reporting.
Staff
For relentless coverage of the “Ghost Ship” fire, which killed 36 people at a warehouse party, and for reporting after the tragedy that exposed the city’s failure to take actions that might have prevented it.
Los Angeles Times Staff
For exceptional reporting, including both local and global perspectives, on the shooting in San Bernardino and the terror investigation that followed.
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.