The puddled surf committee said that the Pulitzer provided a masterfully designed text, video and podcasts in virtual reality to examine multiple perspectives. The difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Donald Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S border with Mexico. Our news source reporter Jill Castellano joins us. Gel congratulations. >> Did you have a sense that you and the USA team was doing something special with this report? >> I knew that it was something special, I did not expect anything like this, but definitely from the origin of the project, the intention was to do something special. We are going to put resources into this that no one else is going to because the border wall is a big topic right now. We do not think that people understand the nuance and detail of what is really involved. If we are going through with this idea to build a border wall what will happen? >> What is the scope? >> It was a massive effort and it started at the Arizona Republic with Nicole Carol and we thought let's do something as big as we can possibly do. The scope of this project included maps and interactive graphics and video and virtual reality. It included podcasts, text feature stories, profiles in -- investigative reporting. Every kind of journalism you can imagine. >> The video you actually took people on a tour of this whole border sequence? >> Yes, absolutely. We went up in a helicopter. Some members of the team went up in a helicopter and filmed the border from above. This is a cool aspect of the project to see that for themselves. >> Your work featured on order deaths. What questions we hoping to answer? >> We wanted to know how many people die crossing the border. You would think that there some numbers out there already, we must know the answer. We do not. This is the bottom line, we do not know how many people have died crossing the border. There are some numbers here and there that are clearly not complete and we want to get at the heart of that question. >> Part of this involved going over every desk near the New Mexico border to determine whether the people who died were trying to cross, what signs were you looking for? >> What we did was I went with Rob from the Arizona Republic and we flew to Albuquerque New Mexico, we went to the corners office and we looked up death reports for everyone who died near the US-Mexico border. Looking at the autopsy reports, we looked for some classic signs that there is they were border crossers. They might have rosaries on them, they might be deceased next to big jugs of water, certain kinds of clothing they might be wearing, the more that we looked at the reports, the more clear it became whether someone was a border crosser or not. >> How many reported deaths did you examine? >> So many I cannot even remember. We must have looked at hundreds of death reports personally to filter out who died crossing the border and who did not. You came to the conclusion that it was important for one agency to track this exclusively, why? >> If no one takes responsibility for it, no one will know. What we had to do in order to get this number was to go county by county along the border. We are talking about dozens of counties in Texas and we are looking at New Mexico, Arizona, there are two counties in California along the border. We needed to go county by county and find out how many deaths were in each by getting data or looking at autopsy reports. He needed to put this all together into our own database and fix any errors in all of that. With that one agency that oversees all of that, you do not get the full picture. >> As you say, this was just one aspect of this huge USA report. How did you find out that you had won the Pulitzer? >> I had heard that it was possible that we were up to be nominated, to be a finalist and so I was on my computer checking it and I was on the Twitter page and in the studio recording a story. I totally did not expect to hear that we had one, I checked the Twitter page and it said congratulations to the USA network in their Arizona Republic. I said no way! That is cool. It happened right there. My coworkers started messaging me like a you are on that project right? >> You are in your early 20s and you have already gotten the most prestigious prize in journalism. Has it sunk in yet? >> Not 100%. >> It is super surreal. I know that other people do it for the awards and you think maybe someday that would be cool. You do not think it is going to happen right now. There were so many people involved in this project and it was amazing. Honestly it just makes me want to get back to work, some more good stories and continue doing good work. >> What he working on now? >> Right now at I news source here in San Diego I'm working on campaign finance. Our goal is to make the money and politics a topic that is accessible to people in this county. We want people to be able to eat -- understand easily where the money is coming from in the elections. We want to be able to release in projects to make this information easy and easily available to people. >> Once again, big congratulations Jill. >> Thank you very much. >> I've been talking with Jill Castellano and they are nonprofit partner of K PBS.
Updated at 4:44 p.m. ET
Out of more than 2,400 submissions, distinguished projects in just 21 categories earned gold Monday as winners of the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes.
"They include books, music and drama that inform us, that challenge our conventional notions of creative expression and that push us to consider and embrace new ideas and perspectives," Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy said during the announcement at Columbia University in New York City.
"In the journalism categories, yet again this year, winners uphold the highest purpose of a free and independent press," she added. "Even in the most trying of times, these courageous inspiring and committed journalists and their news organizations are undaunted in their mission in support of the Fourth Estate."
Among the winners are photographers and investigators, commentators and cartoonists, authors and scholars. Watch the announcement at the link above, and find the winners — together with judges' explanation about why they won — in the list below.
Journalism
- Public Service: jointly awarded to The New York Times, for reporting led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker, for reporting by Ronan Farrow. "For explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators — including allegations against one of Hollywood's most influential producers — bringing them to account for long-suppressed claims of coercion, brutality and victim-silencing, thus spurring a worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women."
- Breaking News Reporting: The staff of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat."For lucid and tenacious coverage of historic wildfires that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, and for expertly utilizing an array of tools, including photography, video and social media platforms to bring clarity to its readers in real time and in subsequent in-depth reporting for investigative reporting."
- Investigative Reporting: The staff of The Washington Post."For purposeful and relentless reporting that changed the course of a Senate race in Alabama, revealing a candidate's alleged past sexual harassment of teenage girls and subsequent efforts to undermine the journalism that exposed it."
- Explanatory Reporting: Jointly awarded to the staffs of the Arizona Republic and the USA Today Network."For vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine from multiple perspectives the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico."
- Local Reporting: The staff of the Cincinnati Enquirer."For a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati's heroin epidemic revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities."
- National Reporting: Jointly awarded to the staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post."For deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation's understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 election and its connections to the Trump campaign. The president-elect's transition team and his eventual administration."
- International Reporting: Claire Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters."For relentless reporting that exposed the brutal killing campaign behind Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs."
- Feature Writing: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah for GQ."For an unforgettable portrait of murderer Dylann Roof, using a unique and powerful mix of reportage, first-person reflection and analysis of historical and cultural forces behind his killing of nine people inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C."
- Commentary: John Archibald of the Alabama Media Group."For lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance, in scrutinizing corrupt politicians, championing the rights of women and calling out hypocrisy for criticism."
- Criticism: Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine."For a robust body of work that conveyed a canny and often daring perspective on visual arts in America, encompassing the personal, the political, the pure and the profane."
- Editorial Writing: Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register. "For examining in a clear, indignant voice free of cliché or sentimentality, the damaging consequences for poor Iowa residents of privatizing the state's administration of Medicaid."
- Editorial Cartooning: Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan for The New York Times."For an emotionally powerful series told in graphic narrative form that chronicled the daily struggles of a real-life family of refugees and its fear of deportation."
- Breaking News Photography: Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va. "For a chilling image that reflected the photographer's reflexes and concentration, in capturing the moment of impact of a car during a racially charged protests in Charlottesville, Va."
- Feature Photography: The photography staff of Reuters."For shocking photos that expose the world to the violence Rohingya refugees face in fleeing Myanmar."
Letters, Drama and Music
- Fiction: Less, Andrew Sean Greer."For a generous book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about growing older and the essential nature of love."
- Drama: Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok."An honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perspectives of privilege and human connection through two pairs of mismatched individuals: a former trucker and his recently paralyzed ex-wife, and an arrogant young man with cerebral palsy and his new caregiver."
- History: The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis."An important environmental history of the Gulf of Mexico that brings critical attention to the Earth's 10th largest body of water and one of the planet's most diverse and productive marine ecosystems."
- Biography: Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser."A deeply resourced and elegantly written portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of The Little House on the Prairie series, that describes how Wilder transfers transformed her family's story of poverty, failure and struggle into an uplifting tale of self-reliance, familial love and perseverance."
- Poetry: Half-light, by Frank Bidart."A volume of unyielding ambition and remarkable scope that mixes long, dramatic poems with short, elliptical lyrics, building on classical mythology and reinventing forms of desire that defy societal norms."
- General Nonfiction: Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman Jr."An examination of the historical roots of contemporary criminal justice in the United States, based on vast experience and deep knowledge of the legal system, and its often devastating consequences for citizens and communities of color."
- Music: DAMN., by Kendrick Lamar."A virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life."
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
