Business journalism that won IRE awards

The annual Investigative Reporters and Editors awards were announced on Wednesday, and two were business journalism.

In the large print/online category, David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab of the New York Times won for “Wal-Mart Abroad: How a Retail Giant Fueled Growth With Bribes.”

The judges wrote, “Their determined effort eventually led to 600 public records requests in Mexico, producing 100,000 pages of records, and 200 interviews with government officials. Part One revealed how Wal-Mart’s top executives shut down an internal investigation that had found evidence of systemic bribery. Part Two offered an in-depth examination of how the company used bribes to accelerate its growth in Mexico. The stories prompted investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC and Mexican authorities. The stories also spurred the company to conduct an internal investigation that led to findings of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Mexico, India and China.”

In the book category, Kristen Grind won for “The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual — The Biggest Bank Failure in American History.”

The judges commented, “As banks across the United States failed through a combination of greed, mismanagement and circumstances beyond their control, Kirsten Grind became one of the first to publish a meaningful post-mortem. She dug into the collapse of Washington Mutual, the largest bank failure in America, with skill and determination, bringing characters and events to life with an effective use of records and interviews. With crisp writing befitting a novel, she recreates a frightening drama that should have served as a warning to legislators and regulators that too-good-to-be-true home loans would contribute mightily to the collapse of the economy.”

See all of the winners here.