For a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper through the use of its journalistic resources, which may include editorials, cartoons, and photographs, as well as reporting, a gold medal.

Awarded to The Virgin Islands Daily News, St. Thomas, for its disclosure of the links between the region's rampant crime rate and corruption in the local criminal justice system. The reporting, largely the work of Melvin Claxton, initiated political reforms.

Melvin Claxton (left) and Executive Editor Penny Feuerzeig (right) receiving the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service from Columbia President George Rupp, on behalf of the Daily News staff.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Charlotte (NC) Observer for examining the city's declining inner-city neighborhoods, proposing improvements and helping to organize citizens to ward off further deterioration, and The Philadelphia Inquirer for disclosing fraudulent practices in a local election, bringing about the overturn of the election and the reform of many of the city's electoral practices.