2016 Best in Business Honorees

AIRLINES/TRAVEL – Large

Winner: Associated Press; Justin Pritchard, Martha Mendoza, Scott Mayerowitz and David Koenig; Airport Security

AIRLINES/TRAVEL – Medium

Winner: The San Diego Union-Tribune; Lori Weisberg, Daniel Wheaton and Phillip Molnar; Airbnb: Opportunity or Nuisance?

AIRLINES/TRAVEL – Small

Winner: Honolulu Civil Beat; Nathan Eagle and Marina Riker; Dying for Vacation

AUDIO

Winner: NPR News and Planet Money; Chris Arnold, Robert Smith, Elizabeth Kulas, Uri Berliner, Neal Carruth, Bryant Urstadt and Alex Goldmark; Wells Fargo Hustle

Honorable Mention: Bloomberg News; Brad Stone, Aki Ito, Pia Gadkari, Magnus Henrikson, Liz Smith, Jordan Robertson, Sarah McBride, Marie Mawad and Spencer Soper; Decrypted

AUTOS/TRANSPORTATION – Medium and Large

Winner: Fortune; Geoffrey Smith and Roger Parloff; Hoaxwagen

Honorable Mention: Bloomberg News; Eric Newcomer, Selina Wang and Olivia Zaleski; Uber’s Upending the Transportation Industry

AUTOS/TRANSPORTATION – Small

Winner: Providence Business News; Mary MacDonald, Eli Sherman, Mark S. Murphy and Mike Mello; Bridges Too Far Gone

BANKING/FINANCE – Large

Winner: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy D.C. Bureau and the Miami Herald; Panama Papers

Honorable Mention: CNNMoney.com; Matt Egan; Wells Fargo’s Broken Culture and the Devastation It Wrought

BANKING/FINANCE – Medium

Winner: Fortune; Stephen Gandel on banking

BANKING/FINANCE – Small

Winner: Financial Planning; Ann Marsh; Johnny Burris investigation

Honorable Mention: AmericanBanker.com; Kevin Wack, Dean Anason, Alan Kline and Marc Hochstein; How Wells Fargo’s Culture Soured

BREAKING NEWS – Large

Winner: Reuters; Joseph Menn; Yahoo Secretly Scanned Customer Emails for U.S. Intelligence

Honorable Mention: Bloomberg BusinessWeek; Monte Reel; Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above

BREAKING NEWS – Medium

Winner: Charlotte Observer; Rick Rothacker, Ely Portillo, Katherine Peralta, Deon Roberts and John Arwood; PayPal Withdraws Plans for Charlotte Expansion Over HB2

Honorable Mention: St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jacob Barker, Lisa Brown, Bryce Gray, Jim Gallagher and Samantha Liss; Bayer Buys Monsanto

BREAKING NEWS – Small

Winner: Iraq Oil Report; Ben Lando, Ben Van Heuvelen, Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir, Mohammed Hussein, Rebin Fatah and staff who are anonymous for their security; Liberating Qayarah

Honorable Mention: Crain’s New York Business; Aaron Elstein and Jeremy Smerd; Trump’s Middle Class Tax Break

COMMENTARY/OPINION – Large

Winner: Bloomberg View, Timothy L. O’Brien

Honorable Mention: The New York Times; James B. Stewart; Common Sense

Honorable Mention: Bloomberg Businessweek, Peter Coy

COMMENTARY/OPINION – Medium

Winner: The Atlantic; Derek Thompson

Honorable Mention: Minneapolis Star Tribune; Lee Schafer

Honorable Mention: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Matt Kempner; Unofficial Business

COMMENTARY/OPINION – Small

Winner: Sarasota Herald-Tribune; Maggie Menderski; What’s in Store

ECONOMICS – Large

Winner: The Wall Street Journal; Jon Hilsenrath and Bob Davis; The Great Unraveling

ECONOMICS – Medium

Winner: Minneapolis Star Tribune; Adam Belz; Rising From Poverty

ECONOMICS – Small

Winner: PolitiFact; Louis Jacobson on economics

ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES – Large

Winner: The Financial Times; Tom Burgis, Pilita Clark, Michael Peel, Charlie Bibby and Kari Ruth Pedersen; Great Land Rush

ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES – Medium

Winner: San Antonio Express-News; Jennifer Hiller; Mood Turns Black as Oil as a Boom Turns Bust

Honorable Mention: Honolulu Star-Advertiser; Kathryn Mykleseth; GEMS

ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES – Small

Winner: Iraq Oil Report; Ben Lando, Ben Van Heuvelen, Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir, Mohammed Hussein, Mahmoud Zaki and staff who are anonymous for their security; ISIS and Iraq’s Oil

EXPLANATORY – Large

Winner: Associated Press; Nicholas Riccardi, Christopher S. Rugaber and Josh Boak; Divided America

Honorable Mention: Yahoo Finance; Rick Newman explanatory features

Honorable Mention: CNBC; Nikhil Deogun, Jim Ackerman, Mitch Weitzner,  Reid Collins Jr., Meghan Lisson, Amber Mazzola, Patrick Ahearn, Steven T. Banton, Allison E. Stedman, Rich Korn, Justin Solomon, Charlotte Lewis, Alex Herrera, Roberto Leon, Gerry Miller, Jorge Pujol, Raul Jaramillo, Felipe Leon, Mary Murray, Orlando Matos, Odalys Garcia, Paola Larramendi, Margarita Alarcon, Carlos Bustamante, Evelyn Gruber, Veronica Albornoz, Mark Ohlsen, Christie Gripenburg, Elizabeth Kim, Rakeesha Wrigley, George Pierro, Richard Marko, Tom Russo, Angel Perez, Vito Tattoli, Victoria Todis, John Rehm, Jacqueline Dessel, Nick O’Connor, Salvatore Carosone, Lauren Ricci-Horn, Jonathan Altino, Lawrence Beer, Kyle Kinder, Jamie Bland, Julia Jester, Amanda Winograd, Erika Banoun, Annie Bryan, Aidan Kelley, Marlon Ramtahal and Erin Kitzie; The Profit in Cuba

EXPLANATORY – Medium

Winner: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today; John Fauber, Kristina Fiore and Matt Wynn; Illness Inflation

Honorable Mention: The Providence Journal; Kate Bramson; Following the People’s Money

Honorable Mention: Quartz; Gwynn Guilford; Everything We Thought We Knew About Free Trade Is Wrong

EXPLANATORY – Small

Winner: The Desert Sun; Rosalie Murphy, Robert Hopwood and Christopher Weddle; Land leasing in Palm Springs

Honorable Mention: Crain’s New York Business; Aaron Elstein, Peter D’Amato and Jeremy Smerd; Collection of explanatory stories

Honorable Mention: Los Angeles Business Journal; Henry Meier; Competitors Raise Stink Over Garlic

FEATURE – Large

Winner: Bloomberg Businessweek; Shannon Pettypiece and David Voreacos; Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem Is Driving Police Crazy

Honorable Mention: Associated Press; Hannah Dreier; Venezuela, Life on the Line

Honorable Mention: The Wall Street Journal; Justin Scheck; Tramadol: The Opioid Crisis for the Rest of the World

FEATURE – Medium

Winner: Fortune; Brian O’Keefe; Bitter Sweets

Honorable Mention: Fortune; Erika Fry; Hot Mess

Honorable Mention: Houston Chronicle; David Hunn; Behind Apache’s oil find

FEATURE – Small

Winner: Inc. Magazine; Burt Helm, Jon Fine and Will Yakowicz; The Stealthy Sales Kings of Amazon

Honorable Mention: Crain’s New York Business; Jeff Koyen and Jeremy Smerd; In Search of the Hot Dog Millionaire

Honorable Mention: Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Janet Bodnar and Kimberly Lankford; Making a Plan for a Special Needs Child

GENERAL EXCELLENCE INDUSTRY/TOPIC SPECIFIC

Winner: Financial Planning

GENERAL EXCELLENCE – Large

Winner: Los Angeles Times

GENERAL EXCELLENCE – Medium

Winner: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Honorable Mention: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GENERAL EXCELLENCE – Small

Winner: Crain’s New York Business

Honorable Mention: Nashville Business Journal

HEALTH/SCIENCE – Large

Winner: Chicago Tribune; Sam Roe, Karisa King and Ray Long; Dangerous Doses

Honorable Mention: Los Angeles Times; Melody Petersen; Hospitals’ losing battle with superbugs

HEALTH/SCIENCE – Medium

Winner: The Sacramento Bee; Marjie Lundstrom and Phillip Reese; A Dangerous Mix

Honorable Mention: Forbes; Matt Herper; The God Pill

HEALTH/SCIENCE – Small

Winner: STAT; David Armstrong; Opioid Crisis

Honorable Mention: Project on Government Oversight; David S. Hilzenrath; Drug Money

INNOVATION – Large

Winner: BuzzFeed News and BBC; Heidi Blake, John Templon and Simon Cox; The Tennis Racket

INNOVATION – Small and Medium

Winner: ProPublica and The Texas Tribune; Neena Satija, Kiah Collier, Al Shaw, Jeff Larson and Ryan Murphy; Hell and High Water

INTERNATIONAL – Large

Winner: Reuters; Selam Gebrekidan, Stephen Grey and Amina Ismail; The Migration Machine

Honorable Mention: Associated Press; Hannah Dreier and Joshua Goodman; Venezuela Undone

INTERNATIONAL – Medium

Winner: Fortune; Erika Fry; Hot Mess

INTERNATIONAL – Small

Winner: The Center for Public Integrity; Erin Quinn, Gordon Witkin, John Dunbar and Patrick Madden; Rape, Murder, Famine – and $2.1 Million for K Street PR

INVESTIGATIVE – Large

Winner: BuzzFeed News; Rosalind Adams; Intake: Locked on the Psych Ward

Honorable Mention: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy D.C. Bureau and the Miami Herald; Panama Papers

Honorable Mention: The Wall Street Journal; John Carreyrou, Christopher Weaver and Michael Siconolfi; The Downfall of Theranos

INVESTIGATIVE – Medium

Winner: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Cary Spivak and Kevin Crowe; Landlord Games

Honorable Mention: Houston Chronicle; Mark Collette, Matt Dempsey and Susan Carroll; Chemical Breakdown

Honorable Mention: San Jose Mercury News; Louis Hansen, Michelle Quinn, Karen Casto and Mike Frankel; The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla’s Factory

INVESTIGATIVE – Small

Winner: The Investigative Fund and The Nation; Seth Wessler; Dying In Private Prisons

Honorable Mention: ProPublica; Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu, Lauren Kirchner and Terry Parris Jr.; Machine Bias

Honorable Mention: Indianapolis Business Journal; John Russell and Greg Andrews; CEO Behind $500M Proposal Has Mixed Track Record

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP/CAREER – Medium and Large

Winner: The Atlantic; Elizabeth Samet, John Paul Rollert and Jerry Useem; Business Leaders and the Mixed Feelings They Inspire

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP/CAREER – Small

Winner: Money Magazine; Cybele Weisser, Kerri Anne Renzulli, Megan Leonhardt and Elaine Pofeldt; MONEYcareer

Honorable Mention: BBC Capital; Jennifer Merritt and Ronald Alsop; Generation Work

MARKETS – Medium and Large

Winner: Bloomberg Markets; Javier Blas and Andy Hoffman; Inside Vitol: How the World’s Largest Oil Trader Makes Billions

MARKETS – Small

Winner: Crain’s Chicago Business; Joe Cahill on Business

MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT – Large

Co-winner: The Wall Street Journal; Keach Hagey, Joe Flint and Amol Sharma; The Power Struggle Inside Viacom

Co-winner: Bloomberg Businessweek; Max Chafkin and Sarah Frier; Snapchat

MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT – Small and Medium

Winner: Fortune; Peter Elkind with Marty Jones; Disturbing Decline of Sumner Redstone

PERSONAL FINANCE – Large

Winner: The New York Times; Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber; Public Sacrifice

PERSONAL FINANCE – Medium

Winner: Slate; Helaine Olen; Ask the Bills

PERSONAL FINANCE – Small

Winner: Money Magazine; Elizabeth O’Brien, Taylor Tepper and Celeste Sloman; The High Cost of Coping

Honorable Mention: Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Janet Bodnar, Jane Bennett Clark, Sandra Block and Kathy Kristof; Women and Money

REAL ESTATE – Large

Winner: The New York Times; Alexandra Stevenson and Matthew Goldstein; The Housing Trap

REAL ESTATE – Medium

Winner: ProPublica and The Real Deal; Cezary Podkul, Marcelo Rochabrun, Derek Kravitz and Will Parker; The Rent Racket

Honorable Mention: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Cary Spivak and Kevin Crowe; Landlord Games

REAL ESTATE – Small

Winner: The Desert Sun: Rosalie Murphy, Robert Hopwood and Christopher Weddle: Land leasing in Palm Springs

Honorable Mention: Puget Sound Business Journal; Marc Stiles on real estate

RETAIL – Large

Winner: Bloomberg Businessweek; David Ingold and Spencer Soper; Three stories about Amazon Prime

RETAIL – Medium

Winner: Fortune; Phil Wahba on retail

RETAIL – Small

Winner: Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal; Bill King and David Bourne; Designing a Future

SMALL BUSINESS

Winner: Indianapolis Business Journal; Hayleigh Colombo; E-cigarette Players Fume Over Favored Security Firm

STUDENTS – Professional Publications

Winner: Dallas Morning News and University of North Texas; Dalton LaFerney; The Rise and Fall of the Frack Master

Honorable Mention: The Wall Street Journal and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sarah E. Chaney; Bankruptcy Becomes an Option for Some Borrowers Burdened by Student Loans

STUDENTS – Student Publications

Winner: Washington and Lee University; Athena Cao, Zebrina Edgerton-Maloy and Logan Hendrix; Borrowing Trouble

Honorable Mention: University of Maryland; Brittany Britto; Purple Line: A Divided Rail

Honorable Mention: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Joe Baglio, Elizabeth Fleischer, Elizabeth Harvell, Natalie Hoberman, Lauren Hong, Lauren Thomas, Evanne Timberlake, Justina Vasquez, Hailey Waller and Wei Zhou; North Carolina Business News Wire

TECHNOLOGY – Large

Winner: Bloomberg Businessweek; Monte Reel and Robert Kolker; Surveillance: The Private-Sector War on Privacy 

TECHNOLOGY – Medium

Winner: Forbes.com; Matt Drange; Selling Guns on Facebook a Problem Even Facebook Can’t Solve

Honorable Mention: Fusion.net; Kashmir Hill; How an Internet Mapping Glitch Turned a Random Kansas Farm Into a Digital Hell

TECHNOLOGY – Small

Winner: The Center for Public Integrity; Allan Holmes, Ben Wieder, Eleanor Bell Fox, Chris Zubak-Skees and Gordon Witkin; Broadband Inequality

Honorable Mention: Gizmodo; Michael Nunez; Facebook’s Identity Crisis

VIDEO – Large

Winner: The Financial Times; Kathrin Hille, Vanessa Kortekaas, Steve Ager and Russell Birkett; Frozen Dreams: Russia’s Arctic Obsession

Honorable Mention: Bloomberg Businessweek; Ashlee Vance; Hello World

VIDEO – Small and Medium

Winner: Weather.com and Telemundo Network; Gregory Gilderman, Neil Katz, Shawn Efran and Marisa Venegas; The Source and Cosecha de Miseria (Harvest of Misery)

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