The Arizona Republic and USA TODAY NETWORK win Pulitzer Prize for border wall project

The Arizona Republic and the USA TODAY NETWORK on Monday received the most prestigious prize in American journalism, the Pulitzer Prize, for their reporting on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

"The Wall: Unknown stories, Unintended consequences," a special report from 2017, won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting.

Journalists traveled the length of the border by air and ground, documenting it all on video. Other teams from USA TODAY NETWORK newsrooms in every border state ventured across Mexico and the American Southwest. They spent months reporting on existing security and the possible impacts of a wall on life, commerce, smuggling and property rights.

The project was published in a collection of more than a dozen stories and documentary videos, a podcast series and a special presentation in virtual reality, which allowed users to immerse themselves in locations along the border.

The centerpiece of the report was a digital map that showed high-definition video of every foot of the 2,000-mile line to document all existing border fencing – before any new construction under the Trump administration.

The judges said the award was given, "For vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico."

The Republic has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice in recent years, for breaking news coverage of the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire and the 2011 assassination attempt of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The reporting in “The Wall” aimed not to take a side on whether the wall was a good or bad idea, but to examine its possible effects in great detail.

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The aerial video analyzed by the network showed in up-close detail how most of the vast border remains unfenced and essentially unsecured.

Reporters also revealed new data about the impacts of border security. They analyzed digital property records from every Texas border county to determine some 5,000 parcels of property – in a state where almost all land is privately owned – might have to be seized or disrupted by wall construction.

They reviewed records from medical examiners, counties, sheriff's offices and justices of the peace along the border to prove federal border agents have intentionally undercounted the number of migrants who die crossing each year. In some areas the actual number of deaths is triple the number federal officials report.

Other reporting examined life along the border up-close. Teams spent time with Border Patrol agents assigned to forward operating bases, with vigilantes who roam the hills on their own, with Native Americans whose lands have been divided by border fencing, and with the family of a federal agent killed in a shootout with border bandits.

One reporting team followed an American woman as she searched the Arizona desert in summertime for the body of her brother, who had disappeared while trying to cross from Mexico.

A team also did a rare face-to-face interview with a human smuggler on the California border, who explained that a wall would not slow his business – because he could charge even more money for helping people cross into the United States.

A hallmark of “The Wall” was its use of many publishing formats, including text, interactive graphics, video and audio. That work continued beyond 2017. Last week, the Freep Film Festival in Detroit featured the world premiere of “The Wall,” a full-length documentary based on the network’s reporting.

"I’m proud the Arizona Republic and the USA TODAY NETWORK could bring this important work to the country," said Nicole Carroll, who launched the special report as editor and vice president for news at The Republic and azcentral.com. "The debate continues over the idea of building a wall, and the public needs the facts.

"I’m also thrilled for all the journalists involved. This was a true team effort, and every single person worked incredibly hard to bring this project to life. We are honored that the Pulitzer Prize board honored this work."

Carroll was named the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation in 2017, in honor of her leadership, including her work on “The Wall.” She is now editor in chief of USA TODAY.

The extensive reporting and digital innovation within “The Wall” have already earned it other nationwide honors, including a Scripps Howard Award for innovation, the Punch Sulzberger Award for online storytelling and a National Headliner award for innovation.

Republic staffers have won Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning twice: Steve Benson in 1993 and Reg Manning in 1951. This year's explanatory Pulitzer is the first newsroom-wide win.

The border wall project was one of three Pulitzers won by the USA TODAY NETWORK, which was also recognized for in-depth coverage of the heroin epidemic and for editorial writing on health care. Network newspapers also were finalists for national reporting and for editorial cartooning.

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Seven Days of Heroin: This Is What An Epidemic Looks Like won the prize for local reporting. The package, which included powerful photography and long-form video, documented the opioid epidemic's grip on the area.

Des Moines Register editorial writer Andie Dominick was awarded the editorial writing prize for a selection of Iowa-focused editorials about health care, from the governor’s privatization of Medicaid to state lawmakers’ efforts to impede fetal tissue research to how the Trump administration’s handling of the Affordable Care Act jeopardized access to coverage.

“We are so proud of the work of the USA TODAY NETWORK’s journalists and honored by the Pulitzer Board’s recognition of their incredible feats of journalism in 2017,” said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of the USA TODAY NETWORK and publisher of USA TODAY. “To have five network teams be recognized by the Pulitzer Prize board is a reflection of the ambition, impact and excellence of our journalism. Most importantly, the work cited brought illumination to complex and troubling issues, helped to right wrongs, humanized some of the greatest challenges faced by our nation and served as a catalyst for vital dialogue.”