Media Movers: Pulitzer finalist Janelle Nanos of the Boston Globe

Sometimes stories can be turned around in a few hours. Others can take a decade. While such long-lead pieces are few and far between, Janelle Nanos’ investigative project, “Kate Price remembers something terrible,” was a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and received the Dart Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Trauma.

According to her bio, she “thrives on diving deep into the ideas, people and trends that drive Boston’s economy.” Janelle’s resume also includes Boston Magazine, National Geographic Traveler and New York Magazine. If you aren’t already impressed, she teaches a class in magazine writing at Boston College and is a SABEW board member.

I chatted with Janelle about how her award-winning story came about, her upcoming book and why “writing is always right”:

Dawn: Tell me about your Globe job.

Janelle: I’m an enterprise business reporter, which means I tend to look under the hood at the region’s economic issues and try to find the human narratives behind them. I’m also the Assistant Business Editor for News Innovation, which means I typically have a hand in coordinating a number of ventures that help bring the department’s reporting to other venues beyond print, such as videos, events and other mediums.

Dawn: Congrats on being a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Wow! How did this story come about?

Janelle: The story was ten years in the making and really was the result of two women searching for the truth. When I first approached my subject, Kate Price, about telling her story, she was an academic doing research on child exploitation and identified as a survivor of child sex trafficking. But she had no actual evidence she’d been abused. So she asked for my help. Over time, we uncovered family secrets that had been kept silent for decades – and explored the nature of trauma and memories and the lasting impact they can have on our lives.

Dawn:  The work is journalism at its finest. How has the piece changed you as a person?

Janelle: Working alongside Kate, and now with other victims of child exploitation, has given me a profound sense of how deeply children can be traumatized when they are victimized by a caretaker. This notion of betrayal trauma – the fact that the people who are supposed to love you could hurt you the most – is something that can be difficult to navigate when interviewing them as a journalist and maintaining your objectivity. This work has made me a much more mindful reporter who tries to put trauma-informed interview practices at the center of my work.

Dawn: Now you’re on book leave. How’s that going?

Janelle: It’s going really well. My book, “An Unthinkable Crime,” will be a character-driven narrative that traces the evolution of child sexual exploitation in America from the 1970s to the present, drawing on the stories of victims, law enforcement officers, lawyers, advocates, and psychologists: exposing the systems that perpetuate it, all with an eye toward identifying ways to stop these horrific crimes. I’m deep in the process of pulling all those threads together now.

Dawn: What got you into journalism?

Janelle: I was an English major and American Studies minor in college, and really began getting interested in journalism while working closely with a professor there who introduced me to long-form narrative reporting. The idea of telling people’s stories and having a real impact in terms of accountability reporting was what drew me to the field.

Dawn: You started your career in magazines. Why did you shift to newspapers? What skills did you pick up in magazines that you use today?

Janelle: I love magazines, and they still have a very sweet spot for me. I spent the first decade of my career working at New York Magazine, National Geographic Traveler and Boston Magazine. Each afforded me amazing opportunities to think about storytelling and to learn to develop my voice as a writer.

When the opportunity to move to the Globe came about, I spoke to the same professor from college who helped lead me to journalism. He told me that learning newspaper skills would make me a double threat, so to speak, as I’d be able to function in any newsroom. And he was right. I definitely felt like I had to experience a learning curve when I started at the Globe. But it’s served me well over time, as I now use a lot of the skills from magazines – in terms of story development and narrative structure – in my Globe reporting. And I write for the Globe magazine, which is also a treat.

Dawn: You also have a master’s degree. What led to pursuing that path?

Janelle: I hadn’t developed a lot of basic journalism skills in college. I did student government and thus couldn’t be on the newspaper staff as that was a conflict of interest. So I felt like I wanted to get the reportorial chops. I also saw my time at grad school as a training ground. I pitched nearly every story I worked on in class to local publications in New York, trying to develop a network and a sense of how the industry worked. That, plus the opportunity to do several internships while there, really helped me come to learn to love the craft and the people in the field.

Dawn: What is the best career advice you ever received?

Janelle: “Writing is always right.” For lots of journalists, you often need to move into an editorial role to advance in your career. I’ve edited, but I’ve come to a place at least at this point in my career where I feel like I can contribute more as a reporter and writer. Thankfully, my editors agree.

Dawn: Your list of accolades also includes being a professor. What are you teaching the next generation?

Janelle: I obviously want my students to be the next generation of intrepid reporters – and some are! But I also hope to convey to my students that even if they don’t become journalists, it’s important to know how to get your message across and to articulate your ideas – whether it’s a legal brief, a press release or a letter to your boss. I also hope to imbue them with a sense of curiosity about the world, to look around them with the sense that “everything is copy,” to borrow from Nora Ephron. The idea is that if you’re curious enough to ask questions and seek answers, it will always serve you well in life.

Dawn: What are your students teaching you?

Janelle: I always get great story ideas from my students. Mostly, they’re always telling me the hippest things on TikTok. But they’re also making me really curious about their future. A lot of them asked me if journalism jobs would even exist when they graduate because of AI. It’s a big question.

Dawn: What do you do for fun that does not include reading, writing or editing?

Janelle: I love to cook with my husband and kids, and constantly plan day trips around Boston and New England. Right now it’s cider donut season. I can’t wait.

Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who loves to read and write. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a slow runner and an avid Peloton user. To submit tips for her Media Movers column, you can contact her at dwotapka@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with Dawn on LinkedIn.