Pulitzer Prizes won by the Los Angeles Times

Since 1942, The Times has won 51 Pulitzer Prizes, six of which were gold medals for public service.

2023: Breaking news and feature photography

Mckenzie Trahan, 22, stares off as her boyfriend Eddie, 26, rests his hand on her stomach near their tent in Hollywood.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Times for its coverage of a secret audio recording that exposed L.A. City Council members scheming in a crass and racist bull session about political power in the city, and photographer Christina House for her deeply empathetic images of a young woman living alongside the Hollywood Freeway while coping with drug issues and the birth of her child.

2022: Breaking news photography

Mourners at a mass funeral look up and weep as the roar of jet engines drown out their wails in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 30, 2021. Fighter jets circled the hilltop cemetery where members of the Ahmadi family were burying 10 of their own — seven of them children — all victims of a U.S. drone strike.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Marcus Yam for raw and urgent images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country.

2021: Editorial writing

Robert Greene for editorials on policing, bail reform, prisons and mental health that clearly and holistically examined the Los Angeles criminal justice system.

2020: Criticism

Times’ art critic Christopher Knight for work that demonstrated “extraordinary community service by a critic, applying his expertise and enterprise to critique a proposed overhaul of the L.A. County Museum of Art and its effect on the institution’s mission.”

2020: Audio reporting

Molly O’Toole, an immigration reporter based in The Times’ Washington, D.C., bureau, won the first-ever prize for audio reporting in a partnership with the staff of “This American Life” and Vice News freelancer Emily Green for “The Out Crowd,” described as “a revelatory, intimate journalism that illuminates the personal impact of the Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.”

2019: Investigative reporting

Audry Nafziger, left, hugs Lucy Chi after speaking during a press conference about their sexual abuse by USC gynecologist George Tyndall and the settlement against USC at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown L.A. on March 25, 2021.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton and Paul Pringle for a series of stories that exposed a USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing hundreds of students during three decades at a campus clinic.

2016: Breaking news

Olivia Navarro waits to see her daughter, who works inside the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, on Dec. 2, 2015.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Times staff for its work chronicling the chaotic, fast-breaking events of Dec. 2, when Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married Redlands couple, opened fire at a holiday potluck at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

2015: Feature writing

Diana Marcum for her series exploring six communities struggling under conditions that have left 80% of the state experiencing extreme to exceptional drought.

2015: Criticism

Mary McNamara for columns that ranged beyond television to examine broader cultural trends and controversies.

2011: Public service

For the exposure of corruption in the small California city of Bell, where officials tapped the treasury to pay themselves exorbitant salaries, resulting in arrests and reforms.

2011: Feature photography

Ten-year-old Erica Miranda was shot three times in the back, knee and hip while playing basketball outside her home in Compton.

(Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Barbara Davidson for her intimate story of innocent victims trapped in the city’s crossfire of deadly gang violence.

2009: Explanatory reporting

Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart for their exploration of the cost and effectiveness of attempts to combat the growing menace of wildfires across the western United States.

2007: Explanatory reporting

Kenneth R. Weiss, Usha Lee McFarling, reporters, and Rick Loomis, photographer, for their richly portrayed reports on the world’s distressed oceans, telling the story in print and online, and stirring reaction among readers and officials.

2005: Public service

For a courageous, exhaustively researched series exposing deadly medical problems and racial injustice at a major public hospital.

2005: International reporting

Kim Murphy, for her eloquent, wide-ranging coverage of Russia’s struggle to cope with terrorism, improve the economy and make democracy work.

2004: Breaking news reporting

For compelling and comprehensive coverage of the massive wildfires that imperiled a populated region of Southern California.

2004: National reporting

Nancy Cleeland, Abigail Goldman, Evelyn Iritani and Tyler Marshall for their engrossing examination of the tactics that have made Wal-Mart the largest company in the world with cascading effects across American towns and developing countries.

2004: Criticism

Dan Neil for his one-of-a-kind reviews of automobiles, blending technical expertise with offbeat humor and astute cultural observations.

2004: Editorial writing

William Stall for his incisive editorials that analyzed California’s troubled government, prescribed remedies and served as a model for addressing complex state issues.

2004: Feature photography

Carolyn Cole for her cohesive, behind-the-scenes look at the effects of civil war in Liberia, with special attention to innocent citizens caught in the conflict.

Having fled home a year ago, Tehneh Johnson was no longer safe in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Monrovia as rebel soldiers approach the Liberian capital of Monrovia during the civil war in July 2003.

(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

2003: National reporting

Alan Miller and Kevin Sack for “The Vertical Vision,” a series on the Marines’ vertical-lift Harrier aircraft.

2003: Feature writing

Sonia Nazario for “Enrique’s Journey,” a series on a boy’s odyssey from Central America to find his mother in the U.S.

2003: Feature photography

A Honduran boy rides a freight through Teotihuacan, Mexico. Each year thousands of undocumented Central Americans stow away on the tops and sides of trains. Some are children in search of the mothers who went before them. At the end of more than 1500 miles aboard the freights, El Norte comes only to the brave and the lucky.

(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Don Bartletti for his photos illustrating “Enrique’s Journey”

2002: Feature writing

Barry Siegel for “A Father’s Pain, a Judge’s Duty, and a Justice Beyond Their Reach,” a portrayal of how a child’s fate entwined the lives of two good men haunted by their choices.

2002: Editorial writing

Alex Raksin and Bob Sipchen for a series of editorials exploring the issues and dilemmas of mentally ill people living on the streets.

2001: Investigative reporting

David Willman for his reporting on unsafe prescription drugs that had been approved by the U.S. government.

2000: Feature writing

J.R. Moehringer for tracing the harsh racial history of Gee’s Bend, Ala., since the Civil War.

1999: Beat reporting

Chuck Phillips and Michael A. Hiltzik for their coverage of corruption in the entertainment industry.

1998: Breaking news reporting

For comprehensive coverage of a botched bank robbery and subsequent police shootout in North Hollywood.

1998: Feature photography

Clarence Williams for his powerful images documenting the plight of young children with parents addicted to alcohol and drugs.

1995: Spot news reporting

For the Jan. 17, 1994, coverage of the chaos and devastation in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake.

1993: Spot news reporting

For balanced, comprehensive, penetrating coverage under deadline pressure of the second, most destructive day of the Los Angeles riots.

1991: Criticism

David Shaw for his critiques of the way in which the media, including his own paper, reported the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case.

1990: Commentary

Jim Murray for his sports columns.

1987: Criticism

Richard Eder for his book reviews.

1987: International reporting

Michael Parks for his balanced and comprehensive coverage of South Africa.

1985: Criticism

Howard Rosenberg for his television criticism.

1984: Gold Medal for Public Service

For an in-depth examination of Southern California’s growing Latino community by a team of editors and reporters.

1984: Editorial cartooning

Paul Conrad for his editorial cartooning during 1983.

1982: Criticism

Martin Bernheimer for classical music criticism.

1978: National reporting

Gaylord Shaw for a series on unsafe structural conditions at the nation’s major dams.

1976: Editorial writing

Philip P. Kerby for editorials against government secrecy and judicial censorship.

1971: Editorial cartooning

Paul Conrad for his editorial cartooning during 1970.

1969: Gold Medal for Public Service

For exposing wrongdoing within the Los Angeles City Government Commissions, resulting in resignations or criminal convictions of certain members, as well as widespread reforms.

1969: International reporting

William Tuohy for his Vietnam War correspondence in 1968.

1966: Local general or spot news reporting

For coverage of the Watts riots.

1960: Gold Medal for Public Service

For a thorough, sustained and well-conceived attack on narcotics traffic and the enterprising reporting of Gene Sherman, which led to the opening of negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico to halt the flow of illegal drugs into Southern California and other border states.

1955: Photography

John L. Gaunt Jr. for a photo that is poignant and profoundly moving, titled “Tragedy by the Sea,” showing a young couple standing together beside an angry sea in which only a few minutes earlier their year-old son had perished.

1946: Editorial cartooning

Bruce Russell for distinguished work as a cartoonist during 1945, as exemplified by the cartoon titled “Time to Bridge That Gulch.”

1942: Gold Medal for Public Service

For a successful campaign that resulted in the clarification and confirmation for all American newspapers of the right of free press as guaranteed under the Constitution.