The Herald Courier of Bristol, Va., a small paper in the coalfields of Appalachia, beat out journalism's powerhouses to win the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for uncovering a scandal in which Virginia landowners were deprived of millions in natural gas royalties.
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April 13, 2010 at 1:44AM
The daily was honored for what many regard as an endangered form of journalism in this age of wrenching newspaper cutbacks -- aggressive reporting on local issues.
The Washington Post received four Pulitzers -- for international reporting on Iraq, feature writing, commentary and criticism. The New York Times won three -- for national reporting, for explanatory reporting, and for investigative reporting for collaborating with the fledgling news service ProPublica for a story on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.
The ProPublica prize -- and an editorial cartooning award for the self-syndicated Mark Fiore, whose work appears on the San Francisco Chronicle website SFGate.com -- represented a victory for new media in a competition long dominated by ink-on-newsprint.
ProPublica, a 2-year-old organization, is bankrolled by charitable foundations, staffed by distinguished veteran journalists, and devoted to doing the kind of big investigative journalism projects many newspapers have found too expensive.
Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, said collaborations of the new and the old could become more common.
"The mythical body of journalists has been so decimated we are going to see all kinds of creative ways to get more juice," Clark said. "What's interesting about it is it's a way of building a bridge between the old school and new school."
The Pulitzers are the most prestigious awards in journalism and are given out annually by Columbia University on the recommendation of a board of distinguished journalists and others. Each award carries a $10,000 prize except for the public service award, which is a gold medal.
Here is a list of the winners:
JOURNALISM
Public service: Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier, for stories on the murky mismanagement of natural-gas royalties owed to thousands of landowners in southwestern Virginia, spurring remedial action by state lawmakers.
Breaking news reporting: Seattle Times staff for coverage of the shooting deaths of four police officers in a coffeehouse.
Investigative reporting: Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News and Sheri Fink of ProPublica, in collaboration with the New York Times Magazine, for reporting that exposed a rogue police narcotics squad.
Explanatory reporting: Michael Moss and New York Times staff for reporting on contaminated hamburger.
Local reporting: Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for reports on the fraud and abuse in a child-care program for low-wage working parents that fleeced taxpayers and imperiled children.
National reporting: Matt Richtel and New York Times staff for work on the hazardous use of cell phones.
International reporting: Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post for his series on Iraq as U.S. troops depart.
Feature writing: Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post for writing about parents who accidentally kill their children by leaving them in cars.
Commentary: Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post.
Criticism: Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post for her approach to dance criticism.
Editorial writing: Tod Robberson, Colleen McCain Nelson and William McKenzie of the Dallas Morning News.
Editorial Cartooning: Mark Fiore, appearing on SFGate.com.
Breaking news photography: Mary Chind of the Des Moines Register.
Feature photography: Craig Walker of the Denver Post.
ARTS
Fiction: "Tinkers" by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press).
Drama: "Next to Normal," music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey.
History: "Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World" by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press).
Biography: "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt" by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf).
Poetry: "Versed" by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press).
General nonfiction: "The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy" by David E. Hoffman (Doubleday).
MUSIC
Violin Concerto by Jennifer Higdon, premiered Feb. 6, 2009, in Indianapolis (Lawdon Press).
SPECIAL CITATION
Hank Williams, for his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity.
NEWS SERVICES
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