For a distinguished example of local reporting of breaking news, Five thousand dollars ($5,000).

Awarded to The Hartford Courant Staff for its clear and detailed coverage of a shooting rampage in which a state lottery worker killed four supervisors then himself.

Columbia University Provost Jonathan R. Cole (right) presents Brian Toolan, of the Hartford Courant, with the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Jonesboro (AR) Sun Staff for its aggressive yet responsible coverage of a shooting at a local middle school in which two boys killed a teacher and four classmates and wounded 10 others, and The Miami Herald Staff for its coverage of a 12-year-old boy's electrocution at a county bus shelter and the breaking news developments in the subsequent investigation of the shelter's faulty wiring, which likely caused the boy's death.