L.A. Times Wins 5 Pulitzer Prizes
The Los Angeles Times on Monday won five Pulitzer Prizes, the second most in the 87-year history of the awards, while the New York Times was awarded the Public Service medal for its reporting on death and injuries among American industrial workers.
The Los Angeles Times won prizes in the breaking news, national reporting, editorial writing, criticism and feature photography categories -- bringing to 35 the overall number the paper has received since earning its first in 1942.
"This reflects the depth of talent at this paper and the depth
New York Times reporters David Barstow and Lowell Bergman received the honor for meritorious public service for a series that documented how lax enforcement of workplace safety regulations had led to thousands of injuries and numerous deaths.
The Pulitzer board awarded 13 journalism prizes and seven prizes in the arts. The Wall Street Journal was the only other newspaper to win multiple awards, taking two. Winners in the arts categories included Edward P. Jones for his novel "The Known World" and Anne Applebaum for her nonfiction "Gulag: A History."
The Los Angeles Times staff won in the breaking news category for its coverage of the largest wildfire in the history of the state last fall, a series of blazes that engulfed nearly 750,000 acres, killed 26 people, destroyed 3,600 homes and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage. About 90 reporters and dozens of editors, photographers and artists contributed to coverage that included more than 100 stories in the first week.
Assistant Managing Editor Miriam A. Pawel, who oversees coverage of California, noted that everyone from veteran former foreign correspondents to young reporters with little experience took part in the paper's effort.
Three reporters from the business staff -- Abigail Goldman, Nancy Cleeland and Evelyn Iritani -- along with foreign correspondent Tyler Marshall, won in the national reporting category with a three-part series, "The Wal-Mart Effect." The stories documented how the onetime Arkansas five-and-dime had changed lives and communities, for better and worse, in the United States and abroad.
On Monday, the four recalled how Goldman had spent three days at a Las Vegas Wal-Mart store, waiting for a customer to buy a specific brand of fan for $10 -- a fan that cost $20 a decade ago, before the Wal-Mart supplier moved its production to China.
