For a distinguished example of local reporting of breaking news, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to the Los Angeles Times Staff for its compelling and comprehensive coverage of the massive wildfires that imperiled a populated region of southern California.

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger (left) presents Miriam A. Pawel, Mitchell Landsberg (second from right) and Sam Enriquez (right), of the Los Angeles Times, with the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Miami Herald Staff for its immediate and distinctive search for the cause of the Columbia space shuttle disaster, and Staff of Newsday, Long Island, NY, for its enterprising coverage of the summertime blackout that stretched over a vast area of the United States and cut the paper's own power supply as deadlines loomed.