The Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze of Torrance were among the news organizations that won 2015 Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced Monday.
Two Times writers were awarded with U.S. print journalism’s highest prize: Diana Marcus, a Fresno-based reporter, for her work on the California drought; and Mary McNamara for her television criticism.
Marcus won in the feature writing category for “her dispatches from California’s Central Valley offering nuanced portraits of lives affected by the state’s drought, bringing an original and empathic perspective to the story,” the Pulitzer Prize Board wrote.
McNamara’s award was for “savvy criticism that uses shrewdness, humor and an insider’s view to show how both subtle and seismic shifts in the cultural landscape affect television,” the board stated.
The awards being the Times’ total Pulitzer haul to 43, the newspaper reported.
The Daily Breeze, which covers the South Bay and Harbor Area of Los Angeles County, won for its investigation into the superintendent of the cash-strapped Centinela Valley Union High School District.
Jose Fernandez, whose compensation package amounted to more than $663,000 in 2013, was fired last year after the Breeze’s investigation.
Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and City Editor Frank Suraci won the Pulitzer in the local reporting category.
The Pulitzer Prizes were announced by Columbia University in New York following a yearlong process. More than 2,500 entries are submitted each year; 22 prizes were awarded in 2015.