NEW YORK (AP) — The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica won the Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for illuminating the sparse policing of remote Alaska villages, as a delayed awards ceremony recognized writing, photos and — for the first time — audio reporting on topics ranging from climate change to the legacy of slavery.
The public service winners contacted 600 village, tribal and other local governments and traveled by plane, sled and snowmobile to reveal that a third of rural Alaska communities had no local police protection, among other findings.
The “riveting” series spurred legislative changes and an influx of spending, the judges noted in an announcement postponed several weeks and held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Anchorage Daily News Editor David Hulen said the series “called attention to some really serious problems in Alaska that have needed attention for a long time.”
“There’s more to be done,” and the paper will keep pursuing the issue, he said in a phone interview.
