Nieman Fellows are among the winners of the 2016 Pulitzer Prizes awarded on April 18, 2016.Associated Press reporter Margie Mason, a 2009 Nieman, and her colleagues Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza and Esther Htusan received the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service, for their groundbreaking reporting in “Seafood From Slaves.” The series exposed the abusive and inhumane practices common in Southeast Asia’s fishing industry and led to the release of more than 2,000 slaves; jail time for a dozen of the offenders; a number of significant reforms; and international calls for change.
“Seafood from Slaves” also won the 2015 Taylor Award for Fairness in Journalism. Margie Mason described how she and the rest of the AP team did their investigation in a Nieman Reports Niemans@Work article.
Marshall Project staff writer Ken Armstrong, a 2001 Nieman Fellow, and ProPublica investigative reporter T. Christian Miller, won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for their collaborative piece “An Unbelievable Story of Rape.” They also were selected as finalists for the 2015 Taylor Award for Fairness in Journalism. The two reporters discussed how they collaborated to produce the trail-blazing article in a Nieman Storyboard Notable Narrative.
James M. Scott, a 2007 Nieman Fellow, was chosen as a finalist for a History Pulitzer for his book "Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor."
Also of note: The Tampa Bay Times, winner of the 2015 Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism, won the Pulitzer for Local Reporting for its “Failure Factories” series which chronicles how district leaders in Florida’s Pinellas County transformed five elementary schools into some of the worst in the state through resegregation and intentional neglect. The journalists responsible for the series were Times education reporters Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner, investigative reporter Michael LaForgia, data reporter Nathaniel Lash and photographer Dirk Shadd. Chris Davis was the editor.
On September 10-11, 2016, the Nieman Foundation will host the capstone marquee event of the Pulitzer Prize Centennial year. Beginning with a concert by jazz pioneer and Pulitzer winner Wynton Marsalis, the weekend will feature performances, conversations, and talks highlighting the work of Pulitzer Prize winners around the theme "Power: Accountability and Abuse." Learn more.
