Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting

Pulitzer Prize medal

The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation. From 1985 to 1997, it was known as the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism.

The Pulitzer Prize Board announced the new category in November 1984, citing a series of explanatory articles that seven months earlier had won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. The series, "Making It Fly" by Peter Rinearson of The Seattle Times, was a 29,000-word account of the development of the Boeing 757 jetliner. It had been entered in the National Reporting category, but judges moved it to Feature Writing to award it a prize. In the aftermath, the Pulitzer Prize Board said it was creating the new category in part because of the ambiguity about where explanatory accounts such as "Making It Fly" should be recognized. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.

List of winners for Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism (1985–1997)

Year	Name(s)	Publication	Rationale
1985	Jon Franklin	The Baltimore Sun	"for his seven-part series 'The Mind Fixers', about the new science of molecular psychiatry."
1986	Staff	The New York Times	"for a six-part comprehensive series on the Strategic Defense Initiative, which explored the scientific, political and foreign policy issues involved in 'Star Wars.'"
1987	Peter Gorner	Chicago Tribune	"for their series on the promises of gene therapy, which examined the implications of this revolutionary medical treatment."
	Jeff Lyon
1988	Daniel Hertzberg	The Wall Street Journal	"for their stories about an investment banker charged with insider trading and the critical day that followed the October 19, 1987 stock market crash."
	James B. Stewart
1989	Karen Blessen (artist)	The Dallas Morning News	"for their special report on a 1985 airplane crash, the follow-up investigation, and the implications for air safety."
	David Hanners (reporter)
	William Snyder (photographer)
1990	Steve Coll	The Washington Post	"for stories scrutinizing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the way it has been affected by the policies of its former chairman, John Shad."
	David A. Vise
1991	Susan Faludi	The Wall Street Journal	"for a report on the leveraged buy-out of Safeway Stores, Inc., that revealed the human costs of high finance."
1992	Eric Lipton	Hartford Courant	"for a series about the flawed Hubble Space Telescope that illustrated many of the problems plaguing USA's space program."
	Robert S. Capers
1993	Mike Toner	The Atlanta Journal-Constitution	"for 'When Bugs Fight Back', a series that explored the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides."
1994	Ronald Kotulak	Chicago Tribune	"for his lucid coverage of current developments in neurological science."
1995	Leon Dash (staff writer)	The Washington Post	"for their profile of a District of Columbia family's struggle with destructive cycles of poverty, illiteracy, crime and drug abuse."
	Lucian Perkins (photographer)
1996	Laurie Garrett	Newsday	"for her courageous reporting from Zaire on the Ebola virus outbreak there."
1997	Ron Cortes (photographer)	The Philadelphia Inquirer	"for a series on the choices that confronted critically ill patients who sought to die with dignity."
	April Saul (photographer)
	Michael Vitez (reporter)

List of winners for Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting (1998–present)

Year	Name(s)	Publication	Rationale
1998	Paul Salopek	Chicago Tribune	"for his enlightening profile of the Human Genome Diversity Project, which seeks to chart the genetic relationship among all people."
1999	Richard Read	The Oregonian	"for vividly illustrating the domestic impact of the Asian economic crisis by profiling the local industry that exports frozen french fries."
2000	Eric Newhouse	Great Falls Tribune	"for his vivid examination of alcohol abuse and the problems it creates in the community."
2001	Staff	Chicago Tribune	"for 'Gateway to Gridlock,' its clear and compelling profile of the chaotic American air traffic system."
2002	Staff	The New York Times	"for its informed and detailed reporting, before and after the September 11th attacks on the USA, that profiled the global terrorism network and the threats it posed."
2003	Staff	The Wall Street Journal	"for its clear, concise and comprehensive stories that illuminated the roots, significance and impact of corporate scandals in the US."
2004	Thomas M. Burton	The Wall Street Journal	"for their groundbreaking examination of aneurysms, an often overlooked medical condition that kills thousands of Americans each year."
	Kevin Helliker
2005	Gareth Cook	The Boston Globe	"for explaining, with clarity and humanity, the complex scientific and ethical dimensions of stem cell research."
2006	David Finkel	The Washington Post	"for his ambitious, clear-eyed case study of the United States government's attempt to bring democracy to Yemen."
2007	Usha Lee McFarling	Los Angeles Times	"for their richly portrayed reports on the world's distressed oceans, telling the story in print and online, and stirring reaction among readers and officials."
	Rick Loomis
	Kenneth R. Weiss
2008	Amy Harmon	The New York Times	"for her striking examination of the dilemmas and ethical issues that accompany DNA testing, using human stories to sharpen her reports."
2009	Bettina Boxall	Los Angeles Times	"for their fresh and painstaking exploration into the cost and effectiveness of attempts to combat the growing menace of wildfires across the western United States."
	Julie Cart
2010	Michael Moss	The New York Times	"for relentless reporting on contaminated hamburger and other food safety issues that, in print and online, spotlighted defects in federal regulation and led to improved practices.."
	Staff
2011	Kathleen Gallagher	Milwaukee Journal Sentinel	"for their lucid examination of an epic effort to use genetic technology to save a 4-year-old boy imperiled by a mysterious disease, told with words, graphics, videos and other images."
	Mark Johnson
	Gary Porter
	Lou Saldivar
	Alison Sherwood
2012	David Kocieniewski	The New York Times	"for his lucid series that penetrated a legal thicket to explain how the nation's wealthiest citizens and corporations often exploited loopholes and avoided taxes."
2013	Staff	The New York Times	"for its penetrating look into business practices by Apple and other technology companies that illustrates the darker side of a changing global economy for workers and consumers."
2014	Eli Saslow	The Washington Post	"for his unsettling and nuanced reporting on the prevalence of food stamps in post-recession US, forcing readers to grapple with issues of poverty and dependency."
2015	Zachary Mider	Bloomberg News	"for a painstaking, clear and entertaining explanation of how so many U.S. corporations dodge taxes and why lawmakers and regulators have a hard time stopping them."
2016	Ken Armstrong	The Marshall Project	"for a startling examination and exposé of law enforcement's enduring failures to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims."
	T. Christian Miller	ProPublica
2017	Staff	International Consortium of Investigative Journalists	"for the Panama Papers, a series of stories using a collaboration of more than 300 reporters on six continents to expose the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens."
	Staff	McClatchy
	Staff	Miami Herald
2018	Staff	The Arizona Republic	"for vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico."
	Staff	USA Today
2019	David Barstow	The New York Times	"for an exhaustive 18-month investigation of President Donald Trump's finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges."
	Russ Buettner
	Susanne Craig
2020	Staff	The Washington Post	"for a groundbreaking series that showed with scientific clarity the dire effects of extreme temperatures on the planet."
2021	Jackie Botts	Reuters	"for an exhaustive examination, powered by a pioneering data analysis of U.S. federal court cases, of the obscure legal doctrine of 'qualified immunity' and how it shields police who use excessive force from prosecution."
	Andrew Chung
	Jaimi Dowdell
	Lawrence Hurley
	Andrea Januta
	Ed Yong	The Atlantic	"for a series of lucid, definitive pieces on the COVID-19 pandemic that anticipated the course of the disease, synthesized the complex challenges the country faced, illuminated the U.S. government's failures and provided clear and accessible context for the scientific and human challenges it posed."
2022	Natalie Wolchover	Quanta Magazine	"for coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to facilitate groundbreaking astronomical and cosmological research."
	Staff
2023	Caitlin Dickerson	The Atlantic	"for deeply reported and compelling accounting of the Trump administration policy that forcefully separated migrant children from their parents, resulting in abuses that have persisted under the current administration."
2024	Sarah Stillman	The New Yorker	"for a searing indictment of our legal system's reliance on the felony murder charge and its disparate consequences, often devastating for communities of color."

See also

• List of journalism awards

External links

• Winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
• Winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism