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The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Breaking News Photography

Finalist: Photography Staff of the Los Angeles Times

For images capturing the deadliest urban wildfires in Los Angeles history, revealing the chaos, destruction, and human toll as flames tore through communities.

Nominated Work

Steve Salinas hoses down a neighbor’s rooftop on Sinaloa Avenue as the Eaton fire grows in Altadena, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Robert Gauthier)

Wildfire smoke from the Palisades and Eaton fires blankets Los Angeles County as seen from the Kenneth Hahn State Recreational Area on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Allen J. Schaben)

A sheriff’s deputy directs a homeless woman to evacuate from the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard as the flames rage along the hillside behind them amid the chaos of the Palisades fire on Jan. 7, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

Juan Munoz pours water on the fire-ravaged remains of the Altadena home where he lived for over 39 years during the Eaton fire on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Jason Armond)

The Palisades fire approaches the Pacific Ocean along Pacific Coast Highway on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

The devastation from the Palisades fire extends for miles along Pacific Coast Highway on Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo by Robert Gauthier)

The Palisades fire destroys the United Methodist Community Church in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, 2025. (Photo by Genaro Molina)

Samuel Girma tries to outrun the heat of a smoldering house and prevent its spread next door as the Eaton fire grows in Altadena on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Robert Gauthier)

Firefighters confront a house engulfed in flames on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu from the Palisades fire on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

A fire hydrant smolders as businesses burn in Altadena during the Eaton fire on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Robert Gauthier)

A house in Malibu smolders during the Palisades fire on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

Firefighters spray water on a burned-down house that was still smoldering from the Palisades fire on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

A resident takes in the loss of her home in the Palisades fire on Jan. 11, 2025. (Photo by Christina House)

Margaret Martin, 96, sits outside a home built by her husband in Altadena on Jan. 26, 2025. (Photo by Robert Gauthier)

A stairway and steel beams are all that remain of a house on Pacific Coast Highway after the Palisades fire, as seen on Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo by Wally Skalij)

Winners

Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography in 2026:

Saher Alghorra, contributor, The New York Times

For his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel. Breaking News Photography

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Breaking News Photography in 2026:

Photography Staff of Reuters

For coverage of wide-ranging immigration enforcement actions across the United States, a portfolio distinguished by its breadth, power and immediacy. (Moved by the jury from Feature Photography, where it was originally entered.)

The Jury

Lauren Walsh(Chair)

Director of the Gallatin Photojournalism Intensive, New York University and Managing Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation

Sandy Ciric

Director of Photography, Getty Images

Nikki Kahn*

Former Photo Editor, Sierra Magazine

Jacqueline Larma

Deputy Director of Photography/Curation and Talent, Associated Press

Adrees Latif*

Former Enterprise Editor, Reuters Pictures

Winners in Breaking News Photography

2025

Doug Mills of The New York Times

For a sequence of photos of the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, including one image that captures a bullet whizzing through the air as he speaks.
2024

Photography Staff of Reuters

For raw and urgent photographs documenting the October 7th deadly attack in Israel by Hamas and the first weeks of Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza.
2023

Photography Staff of Associated Press

For unique and urgent images from the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the devastation of Mariupol after other news organizations left, victims of the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the resilience of the Ukrainian people who were able to flee.
2022

Marcus Yam of the Los Angeles Times

For raw and urgent images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. (Moved from Feature Photography by the jury.)
See All Breaking News Photography

2026 Prize Winners

Opinion Writing

M. Gessen of The New York Times

For an illuminating collection of reported essays on rising authoritarian regimes that draw on history and personal experience to probe timely themes of oppression, belonging and exile.
See All 2026 Winners