Wall Street Journal
Wins Pair of Pulitzers

The public-service award recognized a series of detailed investigations by reporters Charles Forelle, 27 years old; James Bandler, 40; Mark Maremont, 48; and Steve Stecklow, 53, that probed the practice of backdating at corporations from UnitedHealth Group Inc. to Apple Inc. The stories fueled federal investigations of more than 140 companies. At least 70 top executives have lost their jobs and 10 former executives are facing federal or state criminal charges in the backdating scandal.

The Pulitzer board recognized the Journal for "...its creative and comprehensive probe into backdated stock options for business executives that triggered investigations, the ouster of top officials and widespread change in corporate America."

The Journal's prize for international reporting recognized staff members for "sharply edged reports on the adverse impact of China's booming capitalism on conditions ranging from inequality to pollution." The series of stories -- by reporters James T. Areddy, 43; Andrew Browne, 48; Jason Dean, 33; Gordon Fairclough, 40; Mei Fong, 35; Shai Oster, 34; and Jane Spencer, 30 -- exposed the strain China's rapid development puts on its people and environment.

Said L. Gordon Crovitz, executive vice president of Dow Jones and publisher of the Journal, "It's fitting that the Journal should be recognized for breaking the biggest business story of the year, using proprietary algorithms to uncover suspicious timing of stock options, and for putting in full context the enormous growth of China's economy."

The Journal was the only paper this year to win multiple awards.

This year marked the first time the Pulitzer board included a full array of online material in its judging for most of its journalism categories. The committee noted the digital components as creating rich, compelling coverage for a number of the award winners. Also this year, a local reporting category for journalism replaced the beat reporting category.

The national reporting award went to Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe for reports about President Bush using "signing statements" to bypass provisions of new laws. Andrea Elliott of the New York Times won the award in feature writing for a story about an immigrant imam in America. Both newspapers are owned by the New York Times Co.

Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling and Rick Loomis of Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times won the explanatory reporting award for a series about the world's distressed ocean ecology. Walt Handelsman of Tribune's Newsday in Long Island won the editorial cartoon award.

The local reporting award went to Debbie Cenziper of McClatchy Co.'s Miami Herald for reports about corruption at a Miami housing agency.

AP
The above photograph by Oded Balilty of the Associated Press was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

The staff of the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., won the breaking news award for coverage of a family missing in the Oregon mountains. The Pulitzer committee noted the "skillful and tenacious coverage" in both print and online. Brett Blackledge of the Birmingham (Ala.) News won the investigative reporting award for exposing "cronyism and corruption" in the state's two-year college system.

In the arts category, the Pulitzer for fiction went to "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, published by Alfred A. Knopf. David Lindsay-Abaire's "Rabbit Hole" won for drama.

The awards bring to 33 the number of Pulitzer Prizes won by The Journal. The awards carry a prize of $10,000, except the public-service award, for which the winning newspaper receives a gold medal.

Write to Emily Steel at emily.steel@wsj.com¹¹