Gerald Loeb Award finalists announced; event to be in 3D

The following 2020 Gerald Loeb Awards finalists were chosen from more than 485 entries submitted in all mediums by local, regional and national outlets and individual journalists:

AUDIO FINALISTS

“The Shrink Next Door” – Bloomberg and Wondery
Joe NoceraKrista RyplFrancesca LevyJared SandbergKatie BoyceGeorge LavenderMarshall LewyHernan Lopez and Maya Kaufman

“The Antitrust Trilogy” – NPR’s Planet Money
Kenny MaloneJacob Goldstein and Julia Simon

“Amazon: Behind the Smiles” – Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
Will EvansKatharine MieszkowskiTaki TelonidisRachel de LeonKevin SullivanNajib AminyAndrew DonohueEsther KaplanMatt ThompsonJohn BarthAl LetsonMelissa LewisHannah Young, Byard Duncan, David RodriguezMwende HinojosaJim BriggsFernando Arruda and Reveal staff

BEAT REPORTING FINALISTS

“The Price You Pay” – Houston Chronicle
Jenny Deam

“Boeing’s 737 MAX Crisis” – The Seattle Times
Dominic GatesMike BakerSteve Miletich and Lewis Kamb

“The WeWork Delusion” – The Wall Street Journal
Eliot BrownMaureen FarrellLiz HoffmanDavid Benoit and Anupreeta Das

“How PG&E Burned California” – The Wall Street Journal
Katherine BluntRussell GoldRebecca Smith, Renée Rigdon, Yaryna Serkez and Dave Cole

BREAKING NEWS FINALISTS

“Crash in Ethiopia” – The New York Times
Hadra AhmedHannah BeechSelam GebrekidanDavid GellesJames GlanzThomas Kaplan, Natalie Kitroeff, Jack NicasNorimitsu OnishiDionne SearceyKenneth P. Vogel and Zach Wichter

“Uber’s IPO” – The Wall Street Journal
Maureen FarrellEliot BrownCara Lombardo, Corrie Driebusch, Scott AustinStephanie Stamm and Rolfe Winkler

“Four Turbulent Days in August” – The Washington Post
Damian PalettaHeather LongRachel BadeJeff SteinPhil RuckerJosh DawseyFelicia SonmezJonnelle Marte and Robert Costa

COMMENTARY FINALISTS

“America’s Broken Health Care System” – Kaiser Health News
Elisabeth Rosenthal

“Sparking the Next National Conversation” – Los Angeles Times
Michael Hiltzik

“A Secret Life of Your Data” – The Washington Post
Geoffrey A. Fowler

“Commentary by Catherine Rampell” – The Washington Post
Catherine Rampell

EXPLANATORY FINALISTS

“Death by a Thousand Clicks” – Fortune and Kaiser Health News
Erika Fry and Fred Schulte

“Goodbye Big Five” – Gizmodo
Kashmir Hill, Myra IqbalDhruv Mehrotra and Andrew Couts

“California Bullet Train Mismanagement” – Los Angeles Times
Ralph Vartabedian

“Dairyland in Distress” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Rick BarrettMaria Perez and Lee Bergquist

FEATURE FINALISTS

“Planet Fox” – The New York Times
Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg

“Can a Burger Help Solve Climate Change?” – The New Yorker
Tad Friend

“Is Amazon Unstoppable” – The New Yorker
Charles Duhigg

“15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook” – WIRED
Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein

INTERNATIONAL FINALISTS

“WhatsApp International” – Financial Times
Mehul SrivastavaTom WilsonTim Bradshaw and Robert Smith

“China Surveillance” – The New York Times
Paul MozurSui-Lee WeeChris BuckleyAustin RamzyJonah M. Kessel and Melissa Chan

“The Hunt for Asia’s El Chapo” – Reuters
Tom Allard

“Chocolate’s Secret” – The Washington Post
Peter WhoriskeyRachel SiegelSteven Mufson and Salwan Georges

INVESTIGATIVE FINALISTS

“Out of Gear: A Detroit Free Press Investigation” – Detroit Free Press
Phoebe Wall Howard

“Exploited” – The New York Times 
Michael H. KellerGabriel J.X. Dance and Nellie Bowles

“Show of Force” – USA TODAY and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brett MurphyNick Penzenstadler and Gina Barton

LOCAL FINALISTS

Arizona’s Next Water Crisis” – The Arizona Republic
Rob O’Dell and Ian James

“Profiting from the Poor” – MLK50: Justice Through Journalism and ProPublica
Wendi C. ThomasDeborah DouglasMaya MillerBeena Raghavendran and Doris Burke

“The Bad Bet” – ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ
Jason Grotto, Dan Mihalopoulos and Sandhya Kambhampati

PERSONAL FINANCE & CONSUMER REPORTING FINALISTS

“The New Debtors Prisons” – ProPublica
Lizzie Presser and Anjali Tsui

“The TurboTax Trap” – ProPublica
Justin ElliottPaul KielAriana Tobin and Lucas Waldron

“Reversal of Fortune” – USA TODAY
Nick Penzenstadler and Jeff Kelly Lowenstein

VIDEO FINALISTS

“Recovering from Rehab” – Fault Lines and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting
Shoshana WalterAmy Julia Harris, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Paul AbowdLaila Al-ArianAndrew DonahueAmanda Pike and Matt Thompson

“Trump’s Trade War” – FRONTLINE PBS and NPR
Rick YoungLaura SullivanEmma SchwartzFritz KramerEmily Crawford and Cat Schuknecht

“‘Zone Rouge’: An Army of Children Toils in African Mines” – NBC News Investigative Unit
Cynthia McFaddenChristine RomoLisa Cavazuti and Bill Angelucci

“Huawei Staff Help Governments to Spy on People” – The Wall Street Journal
Clément Bürge, Sharon Shi and Josh Chin

VISUAL STORYTELLING FINALISTS

“Polluted by Money” – The Oregonian
Mark FriesenBeth NakamuraTeresa Mahoney and Rob Davis

“Clear Takeover” – Tampa Bay Times
Tracey McManus and Eli Murray

“Boeing’s Deadly Failure” – The Wall Street Journal
Elliot BentleyMerrill ShermanMariano ZafraAndrew TangelAndy PasztorRobert Wall and Mark Maremont

“WSJ Graphics Portfolio” – The Wall Street Journal
Elliot Bentley, Yaryna Serkez, Joel EastwoodKara DapenaRobert WallKeach HageyLucas I. AlbertSarah KrouseShalini RamachandranThomas Gryta and Patrick Thomas

The Loeb Awards virtual event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 12.

The winners will be announced in an interactive 3D environment via a browser-based platform called Pixel Canvas. The event will be free for all attendees, but there will be an option to donate to the Loeb Foundation when registering for the event.

The virtual environment will offer sponsorship and tribute opportunities in limited areas of the 3D venue.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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