Tampa Bay Times, Chicago Tribune win Pulitzers for biz-related coverage

Two Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday for coverage that focused on businesses.

The investigative reporting Pulitzer was awarded to Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray of the Tampa Bay Times for a “compelling exposé of highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant that forced the implementation of safety measures to adequately protect workers and nearby residents.”

The local reporting Pulitzer was awarded to Madison Hopkins of the Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes of the Chicago Tribune for a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.

The Los Angeles Times was a finalist in breaking news coverage for “deeply sourced and detailed reporting about a fatal shooting on the set of the film ‘Rust’ that moved beyond the day’s events to a larger consideration of labor and safety concerns in the film industry.”

Jeffrey Meitrodt and Nicole Norfleet of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune were finalists in the investigative reporting category for “comprehensive and tenacious reporting that exposed how financial service companies purchased settlements from vulnerable accident victims across the country, convincing them to give up millions of dollars, often with judges’ approval.”

The Wall Street Journal was a finalist in the explanatory reporting category for “stories that vividly reconstructed the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and illuminated its enduring effects, describing how the destruction of Black wealth and property burdened future generations.”

All of the winners and the finalists can be found here.