Investigative Reporting

For their exposure of manufacturers that imperil public health by continuing to use toxic fire retardants in household furniture and crib mattresses, triggering reform efforts at the state and national level.

For her probe into unlicensed religious group-homes where children were beaten and locked in closet-size rooms for violating senseless rules, prompting action by state authorities

For their exposure of a neglectful state justice system that allowed dozens of brutal criminals to evade punishment by fleeing the country, sparking moves for corrective change.

For his spotlighting of medical radiation errors that injure thousands of Americans, sparking national discussion and remedial steps.

For their investigation, in print and online, of 13 deaths at a home for severely disabled children and young adults, resulting in a state effort to close the facility.

For their in-depth reporting and computer analysis that unraveled $10 billion in suspicious Florida real estate transactions, triggering local and state efforts to curb abuses.

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.(Moved by the Board to the Explanatory Reporting category)

For his meticulously researched stories that, in the face of threats, exposed financial abuses by the head of California’s largest union, leading to investigations, the leader’s departure from office and repayment of misappropriated funds.

For their powerful revelations that the government was failing to protect the public from dangerous chemicals in everyday products, such as some “microwave-safe” containers, stirring action by Congress and federal agencies.

For their reports on how destruction of evidence in criminal cases across the nation can free the guilty and convict the innocent, prompting official efforts to correct breakdowns.

For their series that exposed how the improper sealing of hundreds of lawsuits hid information vital to public safety, and resulted in remedial judicial steps.

For their probe of sexual misconduct by health-care professionals that included creation of an extensive online database of offenders and caused a tightening of state regulation.

For their in-depth reports on suicide among American soldiers in Iraq, leading to congressional and military action to address mental health problems raised in the stories.

For their exposure of problems in the management of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's richest art institution, and in acquisition practices at other museums.

For their in-depth reports on the federal government's widespread mismanagement of hurricane aid, triggering indictments and other remedial action.

For her revelations that thousands of vulnerable American soldiers were exploited by some insurance companies, investment firms and lenders.

For his exposure of glaring injustice in the handling of traffic tickets by public officials.

For their detailed stories that revealed questionable practices by a respected environmental organization and that produced sweeping reforms.

For their relentless examination of death and injury among American workers and exposure of employers who break basic safety rules. (Moved by the Board to the Public Service category, where it was also entered.)

For their revelatory and moving examination of a military aircraft, nicknamed "The Widow Maker," that was linked to the deaths of 45 pilots. (Moved by the Board to the National Reporting category, where it was also entered.)

For its outstanding blend of investigation and evocative storytelling that showed how a footloose Algerian boy evolved into a terrorist.

For its ambitious global examination of the ethical issues surrounding the recruiting of foreign athletes for American schools.

For a penetrating investigation of a local cancer research center, reporting that some patients who died in two failed clinical trials were deprived of essential information about the trials' risks, and were given drugs in which the center and its doctors had a financial interest.

For two series that documented systematic abuses, including excessive shootings and questionable murder confessions, in the Prince George's County police department.

For their persistent reporting that dispelled, locally and nationally, the secrecy cloaking the mistakes of practicing doctors who have been subjected to disciplinary actions or compelled to make malpractice payments.

For his illuminating reporting on the arbitrary and inconsistent administration of the federal system that grants political asylum to refugees entering the U.S.

For reporting that disclosed how pharmaceutical companies secretly paid doctors to test drugs on patients.

For a series of articles that cited a 50-year pattern of misconduct by the American government and the beryllium industry in the production of metal used in nuclear bombs, which resulted in death and injury to dozens of workers, leading to government investigations and safety reforms.

For her reporting that revealed how a controversial chemical sterilization technique was exported by American population control advocates and used on women in Third World countries, a disclosure that prompted significant reforms.

For their investigation of the hidden dangers of cosmetic surgery, a growing yet largely unregulated medical industry.

For their reporting that disclosed how hundreds of local police officers routinely served as unnecessary witnesses in misdemeanor arrests to gain overtime pay.

For its investigation of the corrupt financial practices charged to the Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention.

For engendering regulatory reform through dogged reporting, which revealed that housing officials in the city owned neglected inner-city properties.

For its expose of abuse of disability benefits by retired public employees, prompting reform of the Massachusetts pension system.

For reporting on widespread Medicaid abuse in the state involving prominent officials.

For stories that probed questionable business dealings of the Nation of Islam.

For their series of stories exposing abuses by Ohio doctors and hospitals, which resulted in significant reforms in the state's regulatory system.

For a series of articles that disclosed careless hiring, training and disciplinary procedures within the District of Columbia police department

For their reports that exposed costly fraud and mismanagement plaguing Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New York state, America's largest not-for-profit health insurer.

For stories that revealed sexual abuse and other criminal acts within the local compound held by members of the Branch Davidian cult.

For their series about victims of botched radiation therapy and lax regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies.

For investigations of corruption by a Missouri attorney general and a St. Louis chief prosecutor.

For stories that identified the major causes of the decline of Buffalo's older neighborhoods and proposed possible solutions.

For an investigation that revealed secret links between the Rochester Institute of Technology and the CIA.

For its persistent investigation of financial abuses at a University of South Carolina foundation, which prompted significant reforms.

For reports revealing that the Oakland Police Department had routinely neglected to investigate rape charges, which prompted the reopening of more than 200 cases.

For persistent reporting that freed an innocent man serving a 55-year prison sentence.

For an investigation disclosing the inadequate health care system in America's federal prisons, reporting that prompted a Congressional inquiry.

For "Cheating Our Children." a series that examined local political abuses and their damaging effect on Kentucky's public schools.

For her investigation of dangerous practices and fraud in Virginia's pest control industry.

For a series about how court secrecy procedures have created a system of private justice within the public courts.

For her reports on a public housing program that allowed prosperous tenants to live in city projects intended for citizens with limited income.

For documenting pervasive racial injustice in Georgia's Toombs Judicial Circuit.

For their reports on the mishandled investigation of the Green River murders, the biggest unsolved serial killer case in America.

For his resourceful investigation of the dealings of Mexican drug lords.

For their four-part series, which documented the misuse of funds by the Shrine of North America, the nation's richest charity, and spurred subsequent investigations in six states.

For their persistent and thorough investigation of self-proclaimed mass murderer Henry Lee Lucas, which exposed him as the perpetrator of a massive hoax.

For their investigation of Congressman Bill Boner's financial dealings, which revealed flagrant abuses and caused the U.S. Justice Department to re-open an investigation of the matter.

For reporting which revealed that nearly 250 U.S. servicemen had lost their lives as a result of a design problem in helicopters built by Bell Helicopter-- a revelation which ultimately led the Army to ground almost 600 Huey helicopters pending their modification.