2010 Finalists

Public Service

Asbury Park Press

For its exhaustive examination of how an archaic property tax system harms New Jersey’s economy and ordinary families, using stories and interactive databases to spark pledges of statewide reform.

Los Angeles Times and ProPublica (a joint entry)

For their exposure of gaps in California’s oversight of dangerous and incompetent nurses, blending investigative scrutiny and multimedia storytelling to produce corrective changes.

Breaking News Reporting

Staff of The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.

For its sweeping coverage of 44 arrests in a widespread corruption scandal that snared local officials, several religious leaders and others.

Staff of The Washington Post

For its compelling coverage of an Army psychiatrist, with long ties to Washington, who killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, a Texas military base.

Investigative Reporting

Michael Braga, Chris Davis and Matthew Doig of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

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.

Michael Moss and members of The New York Times Staff

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)

Explanatory Reporting

Dan Egan of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

For his path-breaking coverage of how invasive aquatic creatures have disrupted the ecosystem of the Great Lakes and other bodies of water, illuminating the science and politics of an important national issue.

The New York Times Staff, and notably Gina Kolata

For their exploration of the lack of progress in the 40-year war on cancer, combining explanation of scientific complexity and the exposure of myths with an empathetic portrayal of the human suffering caused by the disease.

Kirsten Grind, Jeanne Lang Jones and Alwyn Scott of the Puget Sound (Wash.) Business Journal, a weekly

For their meticulous examination of the collapse of Washington Mutual, the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, plumbing causes and raising troubling questions about federal regulation.

Local Reporting

Dave Philipps of The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO

For his painstaking stories on the spike in violence within a battered combat brigade returning to Fort Carson after bloody deployments to Iraq, leading to increased mental health care for soldiers.

Ben Montgomery, Waveney Ann Moore and photographer Edmund D. Fountain of the St. Petersburg Times

For their dogged reporting and searing storytelling that illuminated decades of abuse at a Florida reform school for boys and sparked remedial action.

National Reporting

Ken Bensinger and Ralph Vartabedian of the Los Angeles Times

For their tenacious reporting on how design flaws and weak federal oversight contributed to a potentially lethal problem with Toyota vehicles, resulting in corrective steps and a congressional inquiry.

Greg Gordon, Kevin G. Hall and Chris Adams of McClatchy Newspapers

For their examination of the nation’s financial collapse and notably on the involvement of Goldman Sachs.

International Reporting

Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times

For his coverage of the disputed election in Iran and its bloody aftermath, marked by firsthand knowledge and close-up portraits of individuals caught up in events.

David Rohde of The New York Times

For his riveting account of being held prisoner by the Taliban for seven months before his dramatic escape, using his eye for detail to depict memorably his militant captors.

Feature Writing

Dan Barry of The New York Times

For his portfolio of closely observed pieces that movingly capture how the great recession is changing lives and relationships in America.

Sheri Fink of ProPublica, in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine

For a story that chronicles the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital’s exhausted doctors when they were cut off by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. (Moved by the Board to the Investigative Reporting category.)

Commentary

David Leonhardt of The New York Times

For his illumination of the nation’s most pressing and complex economic concerns, from health care reform to the worst recession in decades.

Phillip Morris of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland

For his columns that close the distance between the reader and the rough streets of the city, confronting hard realities without leaving people to feel hopeless.

Criticism

Michael Feingold of The Village Voice, a New York City weekly

For his engaging, authoritative drama reviews that fuse passion and knowledge as he helps readers understand what makes a play or a performance successful.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times

For his incisive film reviews that, with aplomb, embrace a wide spectrum of movies and often explore their connection to larger issues in society or the arts.

Editorial Writing

John G. Carlton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

For his editorials on health care reform that cut through the clutter, debunk myths and often bring the national debate home to Missouri.

John McCormick and Marie Dillon of the Chicago Tribune

For their unyielding editorials urging reform of a culture of corruption in Illinois state government, repeatedly sounding the alarm when lawmakers faltered.

Editorial Cartooning

Tony Auth of The Philadelphia Inquirer

For his masterful simplicity in expressing consistently fearless positions on national and local issues.

Matt Wuerker of Politico

For his broad portfolio that encompasses the nation’s historic political year, using rich artistry, wry humor and sometimes animation to drive home his deft satire.

Breaking News Photography

Staff of the Associated Press

For its unforgettable images that take viewers to the frontlines of America’s war in Afghanistan, recording a range of scenes and emotions, from mirth to pain and sorrow.

Staff of the New York Daily News

For its compelling and remarkably complete photo coverage of the miraculous landing of a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River off Manhattan without loss of life.

Feature Photography

Mary F. Calvert, freelance photojournalist

For her courageous work published in The Washington Times that vividly documents how rapes, by the tens of thousands, have become a weapon of war in Congo.

Robert Cohen of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

For his sensitive portrayal of homeless suburban families camping in motels during the recession, often recording memorable emotional moments.