For a distinguished example of local reporting of spot news, three thousand dollars ($3,000).

Awarded to the Los Angeles Times Staff for its reporting on January 17, 1994, of the chaos and devastation in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake.

Carol Stogsdill of the Los Angeles Times accepts the 1995 Pulitzer Prize from Columbia University President George Rupp, on behalf of the Los Angeles Times staff.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The New York Times staff for its coverage of the city's police department as it was rocked by charges of corruption in a Harlem precinct, and the Rocky Mountain News staff for its coverage of a deadly wildfire that killed 14 firefighters, the worst disaster of its kind in Colorado' s history.