Los Angeles Times’ Coverage Of Secret City Council Member Recordings Wins Pulitzer Prize; ‘English’ Recognized In Drama Category

Ted Johnson
·3 min read
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The staff of Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for its stories that uncovered recordings in which City Council members made racist remarks.

The recordings last year set off a furor at City Hall, leading to the resignation of City Council President Nury Martinez and other civic officials.

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The Times‘ Christina House also won a Pulitzer for feature photography for images of a pregnant 22-year-old living on the street.

The Times‘ exposé on the City Council members conversation won in the breaking news category, beating two other finalists: Josh Gerstein, Alex Ward, Peter S. Canellos. Hailey Fuchs and Heidi Przybyla of Politico for their bombshell story on the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. The Pulitzer jury moved their entry to breaking news from the national reporting category. The other finalist in the category was the staff of The New York Times for its coverage of a Bronx high-rise fire in which 17 people died.

In the drama category, Pulitzers recognized Sanaz Toossi’s English. The judges called it a “quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a new language that may alter their identities and also represent a new life.”

The finalists in the drama category were Aleshea Harris for On Sugarland and Lloyd Suh for The Far Country.

Staffers at The Washington Post were recognized in three categories. Caroline Kitchener won in the national reporting category for her stories on the consequences of the reversal of Roe Vs. Wade; Eli Saslow won in the feature writing category for people struggling with the pandemic, homelessness, addiction and inequality; and Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa won in the general non-fiction category for their book, His Name Is George Floyd.

Other multiple winners included The New York Times, which won in the international reporting category for staff coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and contributor Mona Chalabi, who won in the illustrated reporting and commentary category for a report on the wealth and power of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

The Associated Press won the public service award for reporting from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The judges recognized the work of Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant. The AP’s photography staff also was awarded a Pulitzer in the breaking news photography category for images from the Russian invasion.

AL.com in Birmingham, AL won for local reporting for an investigative series on predatory policing in the town of Brookside. The judges recognized John Archibald, his son Ramsey Archibald, Ashley Remkus and Challen Stephens. AL.com also won in the commentary category for Kyle Whitmire’s “measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama’s Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion,” according to the judges.

There were no special citations for this year. The complete list of winners is here.

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