2019 Best in Business Honorees

Congratulations to the 2019 Best in Business contest honorees! Many thanks to our judges for their time and thoughtfulness in reviewing entries and meeting to select honorees.

Submissions came from 183 news organizations across all platforms representing the breadth of business journalism, from international, national and regional news outlets to specialized business publications.

See judging comments.


Audio

• Winner – A collaboration of The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet Media; WeWork trilogy
Eliot Brown, Maureen Farrell, Kate Linebaugh, Ryan Knutson, Annie Minoff, Rikki Novetsky, Sarah Platt, Willa Rubin, Pia Gadkari, Annie-Rose Strasser, Griffin Tanner and Jarrard Cole

• Honorable Mention – NPR; Profiles of America in full employment
Jim Zarroli, Scott Horsley, Alina Selyukh, Uri Berliner, Pallavi Gogoi and Avie Schneider

• Honorable Mention – American Banker; Bankshot
John Heltman and Rob Blackwell


Banking/Finance, Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; Covert operation
Mark Maremont and Leslie Scism

• Honorable Mention – A collaboration of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 16 media partners; Mauritius Leaks
Will Fitzgibbon, Antonio Cucho, Amy Wilson-Chapman and Marwen Ben Mustapha

Banking/Finance, Medium division

• Winner – ProPublica; Trump’s taxes
Heather Vogell and Doris Burke

• Honorable Mention – A collaboration of American Banker and ProPublica; How Trump’s political appointees thwarted tougher settlements with two big banks
Kevin Wack, Alan Kline, Jesse Eisinger and Nick Varchaver

Banking/Finance, Small division

• Winner – Financial Planning; JPMorgan’s Chase Private Client group used false evidence to get rid of an advisor. This is how the firm tried to make sure no one knew.         
Ann Marsh and Scott Wenger

• Honorable Mention – The Real Deal; Trouble in the land of OZK
David Jeans, Keith Larsen and Hiten Samtani


Breaking News, Large division

• Winner – Reuters; U.S.-China trade war        
David Lawder, Jeff Mason, Michael Martina and Chris Prentice

• Honorable Mention – The Financial Times; WeWork
James Fontanella-Khan, Eric Platt, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Laura Noonan and Elaine Moore

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg News; PG&E files for bankruptcy
Mark Chediak, Christopher Martin, Allison McNeely, Katherine Doherty and David Baker

Breaking News, Medium division

• Winner – Dallas Morning News; U.S. pilots faulted 737 Max jets
Dom DiFurio, Cary Aspinwall and Ariana Giorgi

Breaking News, Small division

• Winner – Baltimore Business Journal; Nonprofit with ties to Mayor Pugh, top aides received city funding
Melody Simmons


Commentary/Opinion, Large division

• Winner – The New York Times; China-Think
Li Yuan

• Honorable Mention – Los Angeles Times (CA); Michael Hiltzik opinion/commentary
Michael Hiltzik

Commentary/Opinion, Medium division

• Winner – Kaiser Health News; America’s broken health care system
Elisabeth Rosenthal

• Honorable Mention – Houston Chronicle; Accountability
Chris Tomlinson

Commentary/Opinion, Small division

• Winner – Crain’s Chicago Business; Holding Chicago companies accountable
Joe Cahill

• Honorable Mention – STAT; Commentary on drug pricing and development
Matthew Herper


Economics, Large division

• Winner – Bloomberg News; Addicted to debt
Christopher Maloney, Adam Tempkin, Ben Holland and Shahien Nasiripour

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg Businessweek; How Trump’s trade war went from method to madness
Jenny Leonard and Shawn Donnan

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg News; TOPLive
Chris Anstey, Marcus Ashworth, James Callan, Andrew Cinko, Crystal Chui, Eric Coleman, Mark Cranfield, Enda Curran, Neil Denslow, Andrew Dunn, Tim Farrand, David Finnerty, Tal Barak Harif, Andrew Harrer, Takaaki Iwabu, Ira Jersey, Stephen Jonathan, Alex Jones, Tony Jordan, Luke Kawa, Adrian Kennedy, Geoff King, Maria Kolesnikova, Anny Kuo, Scott Lanman, Carolynn Look, Sara Marley, Yuki Masujima, Steve Matthews, Galen Meyer, Chikako Mogi, Shoko Oda, Marc Perrier, Carl Riccadonna, Emma Ross-Thomas, Kurt Schussler, Arran Scott, Subramaniam Sharma, Piotr Skolimowski, Molly Smith, Yuko Takeo, Eddie van der Walt, Eliza Winger, Foster Wong, Doug Zehr

Economics – Medium division and Small division

• Winner – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Dairyland in distress
Rick Barrett and Maria Perez

• Honorable Mention – Kaiser Health News; No mercy
Sarah Jane Tribble


Energy/Natural Resources – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; Brazil’s deadly dam collapse
Samantha Pearson, Patricia Kowsmann, Luciana Magalhaes and Scott Patterson

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg Businessweek; Is one of the world’s biggest lawsuits built on a sham?
Kit Chellel, Joe Light and Ruth Olurounbi

• Honorable Mention – The New York Times; PG&E’s disconnect
Ivan Penn, Peter Eavis and James Glanz

Energy/Natural Resources – Medium division

• Winner – The Arizona Republic; Arizona’s next water crisis
Ian James, Rob O’Dell and Mark Henle

• Honorable Mention – A collaboration of The Center for Public Integrity and “The World”; Pushing plastic
Jamie Smith Hopkins, Tik Root and Patrick Winn

Energy/Natural Resources – Small division

• Winner – Honolulu Civil Beat; Reeling it in
Nathan Eagle and Patti Epler

• Honorable Mention – New Haven Independent; Dicey deals kept English Station dirty
Christopher Peak


Explanatory – Large division

• Winner – Reuters; Hidden injustice
Dan Levine, Benjamin Lesser, Jaimi Dowdell, Lisa Girion and Michelle Conlin

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg Businessweek; New red scare
Peter Waldman

Explanatory – Medium division

• Winner – Fortune; Epidemic of fear
Erika Fry

• Honorable Mention – E&E News; Dealing with disasters
Thomas Frank

• Honorable Mention – Chronicle of Higher Education; How America’s college-closure crisis leaves families devastated
Michael Vasquez, Dan Bauman, Erica Lusk, Janeen Jones, Jacquelyn Elias and Bridget Bennett

Explanatory – Small division

• Winner – Marker; The cutthroat battle between S’well and its bougie water bottle copycats
Stephanie Clifford and Danielle Sacks

• Honorable Mention – Project on Government Oversight; Captured regulator imperils investors
David Hilzenrath, Nicholas Trevino, Kai Bernier-Chen and Aadam Barclay

• Honorable Mention – Denver Business Journal; Why Molson Coors had to leave Denver
Ed Sealover


Feature – Large division

• Winner – Reuters; Africa’s gold
David Lewis, Ryan McNeill, Zandi Shabalala and Tim Cocks

• Honorable Mention – The New York Times; Planet Fox
Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg

• Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal; This is not the way everybody behaves
Eliot Brown

Feature – Medium division

• Winner – E&E News; The most dangerous malware
Blake Sobczak

• Honorable Mention – Kaiser Health News; In India’s burgeoning pain market, U.S. drugmakers stand to gain
Sarah Varney

• Honorable Mention – Report on Business Magazine; A long road
Paul Christopher Webster

Feature – Small division

• Winner – The Counter; The man who’s going to save your neighborhood grocery store
Joe Fassler

• Honorable Mention – STAT; The medicine hunters
Eric Boodman

• Honorable Mention – Fast Company; Atlanta rising
J.J. McCorvey


General Excellence – Industry/Topic-Specific Publications

• Winner – Financial Planning
Scott Wenger, Chelsea Emery, Ann Marsh, Jessica Mathews, Andrew Welsch, Maddy Perkins

General Excellence – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal staff

General Excellence – Medium division

• Winner – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff 

• Honorable Mention – Detroit Free Press
Phoebe Wall Howard, Jamie LaReau, Susan Tompor and Ryan Garza

General Excellence – Small division

• Winner – Portland Business Journal
Portland Business Journal staff

• Honorable Mention – American Banker
Rob Blackwell, Dean Anason, Alan Kline, Bonnie McGeer, Joe Adler, Paul Davis, Penny Crosman and Suleman Din


Government – Large division

• Winner – A collaboration of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Miami Herald, La Posta and 16 other media partners; The bribery division  
Staffs of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, La Posta, McClatchy/Miami Herald and 16 other media partners

• Honorable Mention – A collaboration of The Center for Public Integrity, The Arizona Republic and USA TODAY; Copy. Paste. Legislate.
Staffs of the Center for Public Integrity, The Arizona Republic and USA TODAY

Government – Medium division

• Winner – Kaiser Health News; Hidden harm
Christina Jewett

• Honorable Mention – ProPublica; The TurboTax trap
Justin Elliott, Paul Kiel and Lucas Waldron

• Honorable Mention – POLITICO; How Elaine Chao used her cabinet post to help Mitch McConnell
Tucker Doherty, Tanya Snyder and Arren Kimbel-Sannit

Government – Small division

• Winner – Crain’s New York Business; Will Bredderman’s coverage of New York City government        
Will Bredderman

• Honorable Mention – Albany Business Review; How Cuomo’s strategy stalled Albany’s nanotech dream
Chelsea Diana and Liz Young

• Honorable Mention – Project on Government Oversight; Captured regulator imperils investors
David Hilzenrath, Nicholas Trevino, Kai Bernier-Chen and Aadam Barclay


Health/Science – Large division

• Winner – Los Angeles Times (CA); Bodies of evidence
Melody Petersen, David Willman and Gus Garcia-Roberts

• Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal; Martin Shkreli: Business behind bars
Rob Copeland and Bradley Hope

Health/Science – Medium division

• Winner – Kaiser Health News; UVA lawsuits
Jay Hancock and Elizabeth Lucas

• Honorable Mention – ProPublica; Newark Beth Israel Hospital
Caroline Chen

• Honorable Mention – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Turned away
John Diedrich and Kevin Crowe

Health/Science – Small division

• Winner – STAT; The medicine hunters
Eric Boodman

• Honorable Mention – The Counter; The bowls at Chipotle and Sweetgreen are supposed to be compostable. They contain cancer-linked “forever chemicals.”
Joe Fassler


Innovation – Large division

• Winner – The New York Times; Data visualizations
Emily Badger, Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui, Keith Collins, Nicholas Confessore, James Glanz, Mika Gröndahl, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear and Karen Yourish

Innovation – Medium division

• Winner – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Dairyland in distress
Erin Caughey, Andrew Mollica and Bill Schulz

Innovation – Small division

• Winner – Crain’s Chicago Business; Crain’s special project
Jason McGregor, Hugh Dellios, Stephen Serio, Pat Nabong and Claire Bushey


International Reporting – Large division

• Winner – Los Angeles Times (CA); The war against Huawei
Norman Pearlstine, David Pierson, Robyn Dixon, David S. Cloud, Alice Su, Max Hao Lu and Priya Krishnakumar

• Honorable Mention – Reuters; Africa’s gold
David Lewis, Ryan McNeill, Zandi Shabalala and Tim Cocks

International Reporting – Medium and small divisions

• Winner – Kaiser Health News; In India’s burgeoning pain market, U.S. drugmakers stand to gain
Sarah Varney

• Honorable Mention – POLITICO; How Big Tech beat Europe’s tough new privacy rules
Nick Vinocur


Investigative – Large division

• Winner – Los Angeles Times; Bodies of evidence
Melody Petersen, David Willman and Gus Garcia-Roberts

• Honorable Mention – Reuters; Ambushed at home
M.B. Pell and Joshua Schneyer

Investigative – Medium division

• Co-Winner – Kaiser Health News; Hidden harm
Christina Jewett

• Co-Winner – The Seattle Times; 737 MAX – Flawed design, failed oversight at Boeing and FAA
Dominic Gates and Mike Baker

• Honorable Mention – Newsday; Long Island divided
Staff

• Honorable Mention – Detroit Free Press; Out of gear
Phoebe Wall Howard

Investigative – Small division

• Winner – A collaboration of Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and Associated Press; Caregivers and takers
Jennifer Gollan and Melissa Lewis

• Honorable Mention – Financial Planning; JPMorgan’s Chase private client group used false evidence to get rid of an advisor. This is how the firm tried to make sure no one knew.
Ann Marsh and Scott Wenger

• Honorable Mention – ReligionUnplugged.com; Whistleblower alleges $100 billion secret stockpile by Mormon church
Paul Glader and Emma Penrod


Markets – Large division

• Winner – CNN Business; A crack in overnight lending markets
Matt Egan

• Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal; Muni-bond mess
Heather Gillers, Gunjan Banerji and Tom McGinty

Markets – Medium and Small divisions

• Winner – Fortune; Wall Street’s contact high
Jen Wieczner


Media/Entertainment – Large division

• Winner – Los Angeles Times (CA); CBS MeToo
Meg James

• Honorable Mention – Associated Press; Local news deserts
David Bauder, David Lieb, Alexandra Olson and Janie Har

Media/Entertainment – Medium and Small divisions

• Winner – A collaboration of The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian; America’s rural radio stations are vanishing – and taking the country’s soul with them
Debbie Weingarten

• Honorable Mention – The Information; Media and entertainment industry transformation
Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel


Newsletter – Large division

• Winner – The Financial Times; Moral money
Gillian Tett, Billy Nauman, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Patrick Temple-West

Newsletter – Medium division

• Winner – Barron’s; Review & preview
Alex Eule, Nicholas Jasinski, Ben Walsh and Jeffrey Cane

Newsletter – Small division

• Winner – Al-Monitor; Middle East lobbying
Julian Pecquet and Aaron Schaffer


Personal Finance – Large division

• Winner – The New York Post; Earnin series
Kevin Dugan

Personal Finance – Medium division

• Winner – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; All she wanted was to pay her health insurance
Tim Grant

Personal Finance – Small division

• Winner – Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Watch out for the elder fraud web
Miriam Cross


Real Estate – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; The WeWork delusion
Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell

• Honorable Mention – CNN Business; The internet didn’t shrink 6% real estate commissions. But this lawsuit might
Lydia DePillis and Bronte Lord

Real Estate – Medium division

• Winner – The Miami Herald; Priced out of paradise
Andres Viglucci, Rene Rodriguez, Rob Wile, Jane Wooldridge, Aaron Albright and Taylor Dolven

• Honorable Mention – Newsday; Long Island divided
Staff

Real Estate – Small division

• Winner – McClatchy, Washington bureau; Epstein’s mystery island
Kevin G. Hall and Julie K. Brown

• Honorable Mention – Nashville Business Journal; Collection of real estate stories
Adam Sichko and Meg Garner

• Honorable Mention – Puget Sound Business Journal; The standoff at Pope Resources: Deconstructing Dargey; HQ, too
Marc Stiles and Ashley Stewart


Retail – Large division

• Winner – NPR; Lives Upended: Workers thrown into turmoil by faraway corporate bosses
Alina Selyukh, Jennifer Liberto, Pallavi Gogoi, Uri Berliner and Avie Schneider.

• Honorable Mention – The New York Times; Fast fashion
Sapna Maheshwari, Natalie Kitroeff and Elizabeth Paton

Retail – Medium division

• Winner – A collaboration of ProPublica and BuzzFeed News; The final mile
Ken Bensinger, Caroline O’Donovan, Patricia Callahan, James Bandler and Doris Burke

• Honorable Mention – Newsday; Changing landscape
Tory N. Parrish

• Honorable Mention – Fortune; Seven decades of self-destruction
Geoff Colvin and Phil Wahba

Retail – Small division

• Winner – Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting; Behind the smiles
Will Evans, Rachel de Leon, Byard Duncan, Melissa Lewis, Katharine Mieszkowski and Hannah Young

• Honorable Mention – Fast Company; Collection of retail stories
Elizabeth Segran


Small Business/Management/Career – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; Labor squeeze
Ruth Simon

• Honorable Mention – NBC News Investigations; In the hot seat: UPS delivery drivers at risk of heat-related illnesses
Lisa Riordan Seville, Adiel Kaplan, Kenzi Abou-Sabe and Cynthia McFadden

Small Business/Management/Career – Medium division

• Winner – The Weather Channel Digital; Harvest: Recovery and risk after Hurricane Michael
Marcus Stern, Pat Maddox, Kait Parker, Dan Wright and Charlotte Kesl

Small Business/Management/Career – Small division

• Winner – Portland Business Journal; Diversity in the workplace
Malia Spencer


Student Journalism – Stories for Professional Media Outlets

• Winner – ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication published in The Arizona Republic; 123 have unexpectedly died in nursing homes, but Arizona still gives them top grades
Ethan Millman, Molly Stellino, Erica Block and Megan Boyanton

• Honorable Mention – ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication published in The Arizona Republic; Arizona charges less than almost anyone else to graze cattle. Public schools miss out on the money.
Mackenzie Shuman, Harrison Mantas, Yael Grauer, Molly Duerig and Grayson Schmidt


Student Journalism – Stories for Student Media Outlets

• Winner – Cronkite News by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication; With Venezuela in turmoil, migrants and refugees turn to Peru
Ethan Millman


Technology – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; Big tech’s hidden costs
Kirsten Grind, Gregory Zuckerman, Shane Shifflett, Alexandra Berzon and Justin Scheck

• Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal; Google’s power and peril
Keach Hagey, Vivien Ngo, Kirsten Grind, Sam Schechner, Robert McMillan, John West, Rob Copeland and Katherine Bindley

• Honorable Mention – Bloomberg News; YouTube managers ignored warnings
Mark Bergen and Lucas Shaw

Technology – Medium division

• Winner – ProPublica; The extortion economy
Renee Dudley and Jeff Kao

• Honorable Mention – Forbes Magazine; Bumble’s Sexism Problem
Angel Au-Yeung

Technology – Small division

• Winner – The Counter; Grubhub’s shadow sites
H. Claire Brown

• Honorable Mention – Puget Sound Business Journal; HQ, too: One company, two Americas – The education of Brad Smith
Marc Stiles, Ashley Stewart and Paxtyn Merten


Travel/Transportation – Large division

• Winner – The Wall Street Journal; Boeing’s deadly failure
Andrew Tangel, Andy Pasztor, Mark Maremont, Mariano Zafra, Robert Wall, Elliot Bentley, Merrill Sherman, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Yonathan Menkir Kassa

• Honorable Mention – The New York Times; Taken for a ride
Brian M. Rosenthal

Travel/Transportation – Medium division

• Winner – The Seattle Times; 737 MAX Crisis – How failures at Boeing and FAA caused 346 deaths
Dominic Gates, Mike Baker, Steve Miletich and Lewis Kamb

• Honorable Mention – Globe and Mail; Blind spots: How Canada’s reliance on U.S. aviation policy kept regulators from seeing the fatal flaws in Boeing’s 737 Max
Grant Robertson and Eric Atkins

Travel/Transportation – Small division

• Winner – The Information; Autonomous driving’s ambitious promises
Amir Efrati and Matt Drange

• Honorable Mention – Baltimore Business Journal; Navigating Baltimore: A two-part series
Baltimore Business Journal staff


Video – Large division

• Winner – NBC News Investigations; ‘Zone Rouge’: An army of children toils in African mine
Cynthia McFadden, Christine Romo, Lisa Cavazuti, Bill Angelucci, Sean Keane, Rich Schapiro, Jiachuan Wu, Robin Mucarri, Anna Brand, Shahrzad Elghanayan, Kara Haupt, Dan Nagin, Brandon Barbosa, Richard Greenberg, Robert Dembo, Mark Schone, David Verdi and Adrienne Mong

• Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal; How Huawei employees helped governments spy on people
Clément Bürge, Josh Chin, Nicholas Bariyo, Joe Parkinson and Sharon Shi

Video – Medium division and Small division

• Winner – Quartz; Because China
Isabelle Niu, Tony Lin, Nikhil Sonnad, Arielle Ray, Eduardo Araujo, Molly Rubin, Jacob Templin and Emily Watson

• Honorable Mention – The Weather Channel Digital; Harvest: Recovery and risk after Hurricane Michael
Pat Maddox, Kait Parker, Dan Wright, Marcus Stern and Charlotte Kesl

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