Sarah Stillman
The New Yorker

In the "The Invisible Army," Sarah Stillman tells the story of ten Fijian beauticians who were recruited for lucrative jobs in a posh Dubai salon, only to end up in Iraq giving manicures and massages to U.S. soldiers. Through their mistreatment, Stillman exposes the larger scandal of thousands of foreign workers on U.S. military bases reduced to something like indentured servitude. Working as a freelance reporter without a contract, Stillman spent more than a year reporting the story, traveling to four countries, six military bases, and two war zones. "Without the help of many brave foreign workers who snuck off to bunkers, barracks, and bathrooms to talk with me," Stillman said in a letter accompanying her entry, "this story would not have been possible."

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Rukmini Callimachi
Associated Press

Rukmini Callimachi's relentless reporting has provided readers around the world with gripping accounts of violence in West Africa, where she serves as bureau chief for the Associated Press. Determined to verify rumors of a massacre by soldiers loyal to the newly inaugurated president of the Ivory Coast, Callimachi convinced survivors to take her on a long trek through a jungle to the site of the mass murders. She reported that as many as 47 people had died. She displayed the same fearlessness in her reporting on al-Qaida's growing influence in West Africa, venturing deep into dangerous territory in Mali to interview villagers in contact with the terrorist organization. Her coverage exemplifies the very best in foreign reporting.

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Kathy Dobie
Harper's Magazine

After spending months winning their trust, Kathy Dobie convinced women on the Standing Rock reservation straddling North and South Dakota to tell her their stories. They recounted the sexual abuse they had suffered on the reservation and the indifference and intimidation they faced from the police, the courts, and other government authorities. Supported by The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, Dobie wrote an article for Harper's Magazine that vividly portrays the consequences of an atmosphere of social stigma, inadequate policing, and a broken legal system - a system weakened by divisions between federal and tribal law. "Every citizen of Standing Rock was a teacher," Dobie said later. "I just had to stick around and listen."

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A.M. Sheehan
Advertiser Democrat
(Norway, Maine)

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling
Advertiser Democrat
(Norway, Maine)

A.M. Sheehan and Matt Hongoltz-Hetling demonstrated that a news organization does not have to be big to have a big impact. Writing for a small weekly newspaper with a staff of three in rural western Maine, Sheehan and Hongoltz-Hetling exposed the deplorable state of government-subsidized housing in their community after a three-month investigation. Within four hours of publication, the state launched an official probe. Within 48 hours, landlords were being issued citations. Within weeks, the state began reinspecting all of its Section 8 properties statewide. The subject of threats for their work, Sheehan and Hongoltz-Hetling remained under increased police protection long after publication of their articles. Their work serves as testimony to the power of determined local coverage.

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