Columbia Journalism School Celebrates Alumni Named 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists
Local newsrooms to legacy national publications: alumni recognized across the 2026 Pulitzer Prizes for impactful reporting and storytelling.
Announced Monday, May 4, by the Pulitzer Prize Board, this year’s honors recognized work spanning local, national and investigative reporting, as well as visual storytelling and breaking news coverage. Across eight different categories, members of the Columbia Journalism School community were recognized for journalism driving national conversations around transparency, public accountability and press freedom, including four members recognized as winners or finalists in the local news category.
Columbia Journalism School honorees include:
Breaking News Reporting
Winner: Eleanor Hildebrandt, ‘25 M.S. Stabile, just one year after graduating from Columbia Journalism School, and Sharyn Jackson, '12 M.S., as part of the staff of The Minnesota Star Tribune honored for coverage of a school shooting during a back-to-school Mass that left two children dead and 17 wounded.
Finalist: Joseph Pisani, ‘10 M.S., and the staff of The Wall Street Journal, recognized for coverage of deadly flooding in Texas.
Investigative Reporting
Winner: Karen Yourish, '98 M.S., Damien Cave, '98 M.S., Michael Rothfeld, '98 M.S., Amy Schoenfeld Walker, ‘06 M.S., Tripp Mickle, '06 M.S., and Ben Protess, ‘08 M.S. Stabile, as part of the staff of The New York Times, recognized for investigations into how President Donald Trump profited from the power of the presidency.
Explanatory Reporting
Finalist: Tanaz Meghjani, ‘22 M.S. Data Journalism, and the staff of Bloomberg, recognized for reporting on “revolutionary” cancer drugs and the pharmaceutical profits behind them despite limited evidence they extended patients’ lives.
Beat Reporting
Winner: Jeff Horwitz, ‘09 M.A. Business & Economics, '14 Knight-Bagehot Fellow, and the staff of Reuters for reporting on Meta’s exposure of users, including children, to scams and AI manipulation.
Local Reporting
Winner: Manuel Villa, ‘17 M.S. Stabile, and the team at The Seattle Times for their coverage the impact a multiday catastrophic flood had on the Pacific Northwest.
Finalist: Aaron Leibowitz, ‘18 M.S. Stabile, Susan Merriam, ‘22 M.S. Data Journalism and the staffs of The Miami Herald and WLRN, for a data-driven investigation into the human cost of Florida’s Brightline railroad system.
Finalist: Liz Bowie, ‘12 Spencer Fellow, as part of the staff of The Baltimore Banner, for reporting on how Baltimore’s transit system created long and unsafe commutes for students.
National Reporting
Winner: Mike Spector, ‘06 M.S., alongside colleagues at Reuters, for reporting on the expansion of executive power under President Trump.
Finalist: Sarah Blaskey, ‘17 M.S. Stabile, and the staff of The Washington Post for tracking the impact of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign across the United States.
Illustrated Reporting and Commentary
Winner: Natalie Obiko Pearson, ‘09 Knight-Bagehot Fellow, alongside contributors for Bloomberg, for “trAPPed,” a visual narrative on digital surveillance and online scams in India.
Finalist: Devjyot Ghoshal, ‘14 M.S., alongside the team at Reuters, for “Scammed into Scamming,” an investigation into cyber scam networks tied to human trafficking.
Public Service
Winner: Elizabeth Dwoskin, '09 M.S., and the staff of The Washington Post for reporting on the Trump administration’s overhaul of federal agencies and documenting the human impact of sweeping government cuts.
Finalist: Khadeeja Safdar, ‘13 M.A. Business & Economics, and the staff of The Wall Street Journal, for reporting that led to the release of millions of Justice Department files tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
Pulitzer-Recognized 2026 Graduation Speakers
Two Columbia Journalism School 2026 graduation speakers were recognized by the Pulitzer Board this year. Hannah Natanson was part of the staff of The Washington Post, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting on the Trump administration’s overhaul of federal agencies and the human impact of those cuts. Julie K. Brown of The Miami Herald received a Special Citation for her groundbreaking reporting exposing Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse network and the systems that protected him.
The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in 1917 by Columbia Journalism School. Columbia University now confers the honor on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
For more information on this year’s Prize winners and finalists in Journalism, Books, Drama and Music, please visit the Prize Winner section of Pulitzer.org to find biographical information and read winning & nominated work in Journalism.