BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, D.C.

For a massive reporting project that yielded sweeping revelations about the ongoing role of some of the world’s biggest banks in facilitating international money laundering and the trafficking of goods and people, corruption that continues to frustrate regulators across the world.

Nominated Work

September 20, 2020

Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists

September 21, 2020

The Untold Story Of What Really Happened After HSBC, El Chapo’s Bank, Promised To Get Clean

September 23, 2020

How To Find A Company That Barely Even Exists

September 21, 2020

How banks helped Venezuela’s ‘boligarchs’ extract billions

September 22, 2020

With Deutsche Bank’s help, an oligarch’s buying spree trails ruin across the US heartland

September 21, 2020

The Government and the Whistleblowers

September 20, 2020

How Deutsche Let Dirty Clients Run Rampant

Winners

Prize Winner in International Reporting in 2021:

Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News

For a series of clear and compelling stories that used satellite imagery and architectural expertise, as well as interviews with two dozen former prisoners, to identify a vast new infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims. (Moved by the Board from the Explanatory Reporting category, where it was also entered and nominated.)

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in International Reporting in 2021:

Staff of The Wall Street Journal

For an authoritative and deeply reported portrait of China’s nationalist leader Xi Jinping and his increasingly authoritarian control of the state, its economy, and politics, conducted even after the news organization was expelled from the country.

Staff of The New York Times

For a masterful synthesis of stellar writing, powerful images and engaging interactives that illustrated how the world was unprepared for a fast-moving global pandemic — and failed to contain it.

The Jury

Sewell Chan (Chair)

Editorial Page Editor, Los Angeles Times

Hannah Dreier*

National Reporter, The Washington Post

Indira Lakshmanan

Senior Executive Editor, News/Features, National Geographic Partners

Marjorie Miller

Vice President/Global Enterprise Editor, Associated Press

Nancy San Martin

Freelance Editor/Writer, Miami, Fla.

Winners in International Reporting

2023

Staff of The New York Times

For their unflinching coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings.

2022

Staff of The New York Times, notably Azmat Khan, contributing writer

For courageous and relentless reporting that exposed the vast civilian toll of U.S.-led airstrikes, challenging official accounts of American military engagements in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. (Moved by the Board from the Public Service category, where it was also nominated.)

2021

Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News

2020

Staff of The New York Times

For a set of enthralling stories, reported at great risk, exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime.

See all International Reporting

2021 Prize Winners

Biography

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne (Liveright/Norton)

A powerful and revelatory account of the civil rights activist, built from dozens of interviews, offering insight into his character, beliefs and the forces that shaped him.

Editorial Cartooning

No Award

No award.

Local Reporting

Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times

For resourceful, creative reporting that exposed how a powerful and politically connected sheriff built a secretive intelligence operation that harassed residents and used grades and child welfare records to profile schoolchildren.

Special Citations and Awards

Afghanistan Journalism Workers

A special citation to honor the women and men of Afghanistan who have dedicated themselves at great personal risk to create and support journalism that has chronicled decades of life and war. From staff and freelance correspondents to interpreters to drivers to hosts, courageous Afghan residents helped produce Pulitzer-winning and Pulitzer-worthy images and stories that have contributed to a wider understanding of profoundly tragic and complicated circumstances. In support of their safety in either their continued work or their resettlement, this citation comes with a $100,000 grant to be administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists for the emergency relief of such individuals and their families. Awarded on August 27, 2021.

See all 2021 winners

Finalist: BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, D.C.

Nominated Work

Winners

Finalists

The Jury

Sewell Chan (Chair)

Hannah Dreier*

Indira Lakshmanan

Marjorie Miller

Nancy San Martin

Winners in International Reporting

2021 Prize Winners