Several IRE Members win Pulitzers for investigative work

Congratulations to several IRE members who won Pulitzer Prizes today.

Members Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times were awarded the Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting for their project, “Methadone and the Politics of Pain.”-an investigation that exposed Washington State’s push of the cheaper painkiller methadone.  Berens and Armstrong were also awarded the Selden Ring Award and an IRE Award for this story. The two presented at IRE’s Watchdog Workshop in Los Angeles this past Friday. For their tips on how to find, start and write a great story click here.

Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of the Associated Press, all IRE members, were also awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. The team’s series found that the New York Police Department has secretly conducted widespread spying on Muslim communities.  The series was also an IRE Award finalist.

Several IRE members are part of The Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom, which was awarded the Public Service Pulitzer Prize.  The team’s series “Assault on Learning” demonstrated the school system under-reported violent incidents and routinely failed to protect teachers and students. They were also given an IRE Award earlier this month for the project. You can read how they did it in the latest IRE Journal.

IRE member Adam Jones and his colleagues at The Tuscaloosa News staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for their continuing coverage of a deadly tornado. 

IRE member and New York Times reporter David Kocieniewski earned the Explanatory Reporting Pulitzer Prize for his series spotlighting tax loopholes used by wealthy Americans and businesses. 

Congratulations to these journalists and to all of the winners and finalists.

Several of the winners and finalists will be speaking at our annual IRE Conference in Boston, June 14-17, 2012.