The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was awarded Pulitzer Prize for exposing the Panama Papers.
New York’s Columbia University awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting to the Panama Papers stories written by ICIJ, McClatchy, the Miami Herald, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media partners including the Toronto Star on Monday.
“This honour is a testament to the enterprise and teamwork of our staff and our partners here in the United States and around the world,” Gerard Ryle, ICIJ’s director, said in an announcement on the ICIJ website. “We’re honored that the Pulitzer Board recognized the groundbreaking revelations and worldwide impact that the Panama Papers collaboration produced.”
The Panama Papers project spanned collaboration of 100 media outlets with journalists in 80 countries who worked together to investigate 11.5 million files leaked from inside Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-headquartered law firm that specialised in building offshore companies.
The Pulitzer Prizes also honoured The Washington Post for hard-hitting reporting on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and The New York Times for revealing Vladimir Putin’s covert power grab, praising their probing of powerful people despite a hostile climate for the news media.
The Daily News of New York and ProPublica, a web-based platform specialising in investigative journalism, won the prize for public service journalism for coverage of New York police abuses that forced mostly poor minorities from their homes.
Reporter Eric Eyre of Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia took the prize for investigative reporting for exposing a flood of opioids in depressed West Virginia counties with the country’s highest overdose death rates.
The 19-member Pulitzer board is made up of past winners and other distinguished journalists and academics. It chose the winners with the help of 102 jurors.
