NON-DEADLINE REPORTING

Judged by Steve Berry, Los Angeles Times, 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner.

First Place
Enric Volante and Rhonda Bodfield, The Arizona Daily Star, "Gaps Got Mental Patient a Gun"

"This story reflects the best of daily investigative reporting. Taking what many journalists may have passed off with routine reporting, this writer dug beneath the surface and discovered how a bureaucratic mistake became a fatal one... Watchdog reporting is more than uncovering mistakes. It also sets the stage for fixing the problem, which is exactly what this story did."

Second Place
Pat Kossan, The Arizona Republic, "Low-Income Housing: Rich Getting Richer"

"With thorough reporting and effective use of graphics, this package convincingly and clearly demonstrated the failure of the housing program. I was particularly pleased at how the writer took a complex subject and gave us a simple, jargon-free explanation. It showed once again how the profit motive and social programs mix like oil and water."

Third Place
Leigh Silverman, Phoenix New Times, "Under the Knife"

"This is an eye-opening story detailing a problem about which few citizens outside the health care field fully understand. The writer did a good job making the case that emergency room violence, despite efforts to curb it, is still a very serious matter. I was shocked that hospitals, because of public relations concerns, and law enforcement discourage hospital workers from reporting incidents."