We like the lead in this piece: It’s got nice detail and foreshadows death. Gurnett then reconstructs her main character’s suicide attempt. We’d like to propose that the piece would be even better if it were even more purely narrative, … Read more
Seniesa Estrada and her father live in a gang-ridden, poor area of LA. When she’s eight, Seniesa decides she wants to box. It turns out she’s good at it—and that succeeding at it may save both her father and herself. Read more
This piece is the work of a fine storyteller. We admire Fisher’s purposeful movement from one development to another while covering a slew of characters—often probingly, always with sensitivity and attention. She captures and isolates pivotal moments, creating a sequential … Read more
This is a moving story about guilt, responsibility, powerlessness—and caring. That this is a first-person account is not only unusual; it is essential to the story’s effectiveness. It makes for emotional material and also allows Bock to write in a … Read more
This is a thorough portrait of a man on trial for strange crimes. We like James’ blunt, unsentimental writing, with its telling, concrete detail. Read “Philip Schuth: The man behind French Island’s ‘Freezer Mom’ case speaks out,” … Read more
This piece was among several for which Barry was a finalist for a 2006 Pulitzer Prize.We appreciated Barry’s reporting for irony and detail, a sort of writing that is hard to find in journalism. It seemed to us that Barry … Read more
We appreciate the respectful, compassionate and detached stance of this piece. Streeter writes about Arnie Koslow, a lonely man who is looking back on his life as the timekeeper for some of boxing’s greatest matches. The piece’s stance is achieved … Read more
Batz does justice to this story’s emotional content without tipping into mawkishness. He achieves this through his poised nut graph and delicate scene-writing. Read “Remembering 89,” by Bob Batz Jr. Read more
This is a powerful work of reporting, a devastating account of exploitation. The two-part series tells the story of a group of young Nepalese men who were recruited to work in the Middle East, sent to Iraq against the expectations … Read more
Breslin approaches the burial of John Fitzgerald Kennedy from the perspective of his grave digger. It’s a plainly told story—no breathtaking sentences here—but the style is effective in its Hemingway-esque directness. Breslin moves from the gravedigger’s perspective, to a more … Read more
