2018 Best in Business Contest Winners and Honorees

Audio; All News Organizations

Winner – Indianapolis Business Journal: The IBJ podcast
Contributors – Mason King, Lesley Weidenbener

Honorable Mention – The Wall Street Journal: The next battlefield
Contributors – Jennifer Strong, Robert McMillan, Steven Rosenbush, Garrett Crowe, Kristin Schwab, Anthony Green, John Wordock, Jacob Gorski

Banking/Finance; Large

Banking/Finance; Medium

Winner – The Charlotte Observer: Wells Fargo’s controversies continue
Contributors – Deon Roberts, Bruce Henderson, Adam Bell

Banking/Finance; Small

Winner – American Banker: Bank CEO’s fire-and-rehire maneuver reaps windfall at taxpayer expense
Contributors – Kevin Wack, Alan Kline

Honorable Mention – Sacramento Business Journal: After a decade, banks returning to Sacramento
Contributor – Mark Anderson

Honorable Mention – Financial Planning: Keep quiet
Contributors – Ann Marsh, Scott Wenger

Breaking News; Large

Winner – Los Angeles Times: Toyota held accountable for a defect in its Prius
Contributor – Ralph Vartabedian

Breaking News; Medium

Winner – Forbes.com: The inside story of Papa John’s toxic culture
Contributor – Noah Kirsch

Honorable Mention – Bloomberg Law: Ben Penn tip sharing rule
Contributor – Ben Penn

Breaking News; Small

Winner – American Banker: Comerica scrambles to address fraud in prepaid benefits program
Contributor – Kate Berry, Joe Adler

Honorable Mention – Nashville Business Journal: AllianceBernstein’s move to Nashville
Contributor – Adam Sichko

Commentary/Opinion; Large

Winner – Financial Times: Tech and policies
Contributor – Rana Foroohar

Commentary/Opinion; Medium

Winner – The Detroit News: Daniel Howes opinion/commentary
Contributor – Daniel Howes

Honorable Mention – The Boston Globe: Shirley Leung opinion/commentary
Contributor – Shirley Leung

Commentary/Opinion; Small

Winner – Fast Company: Rick Wartzman opinion/commentary
Contributor – Rick Wartzman

Honorable Mention – STAT: Adam Feuerstein biotech industry commentary
Contributor – Adam Feuerstein

Honorable Mention – Crain’s Chicago Business: 2018 editorial board
Contributor – Ann Dwyer

Economics; Large

Winner – The New York Times: The trade equation
Contributors – Nelson Schwartz, Jim Tankersley, Natalie Kitroeff

Economics; Medium

Winner – Mother Jones: Frozen assets
Contributor – Katia Savchuk

Honorable Mention – Quartz: Remaking economics series
Contributor– Eshe Nelson

Economics; Small

Winner – Indianapolis Business Journal: One city, worlds apart
Contributors – Hayleigh Colombo, Jill Doyle

Energy/Natural Resources; Large

Winner – Reuters: Ocean shock
Contributor – Maurice Tamman

Honorable Mention – A collaboration of The Center for Public Integrity, The Texas Tribune, The Associated Press and Newsy: Blowout
Contributor – Jim Morris

Energy/Natural Resources; Medium

Winner – CNN: Dirty energy
Contributors – Nima Elbagir, Dominique van Heerden, Eliza Mackintosh

Honorable Mention – The Dallas Morning News: Atmos Energy
Contributors – Holly Hacker, Cary Aspinwall, Allan Vestal

Energy/Natural Resources; Small

Winner – Providence Business News: Rising waters
Contributor – Eli Sherman

Honorable Mention – Debtwire: Appalachia’s coal comeback collides with grim opioid reality
Contributors – Kyle Younker, Taylor Harrison

Explanatory; Large

Winner – Reuters: Ocean shock
Contributors – Maurice Tamman, Matthew Green, Mari Saito, Sarah Slobin, Maryanne Murray

Honorable Mention – Bloomberg: Immigration, Inc.
Contributors – Lauren Etter, Michael Smith, Monte Reel

Honorable Mention – The New York Times: Pregnancy discrimination
Contributors – Natalie Kitroeff, Jessica Silver-Greenberg

Explanatory; Medium

Winner – Fortune: What the hell happened at GE?
Contributor – Geoff Colvin

Honorable Mention – Houston Chronicle: The miracle molecule
Contributor – Jordan Blum

Honorable Mention – Minneapolis Star Tribune: Aging parents, stressed families
Contributor – Jackie Crosby

Explanatory; Small

Winner – InsideClimate News: Harvesting peril
Contributors – Georgina Gustin, Neela Banerjee, John H. Cushman Jr., Paul Horn, Anna Belle Peevey

Winner – Project on Government Oversight: Drilling down series
Contributors – David Hilzenrath, Nicholas Pacifico

Honorable Mention – The Desert Sun: Poisoned cities, deadly border
Contributor – Ian James, Zoë Meyers

Honorable Mention – McClatchy DC Bureau: Ancestry DNA: Privacy for sale
Contributor – Stuart Leavenworth

Feature; Large

Winner – The New York Times: The itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, very litigious bikini
Contributor – Katherine Rosman

Honorable Mention – Businessweek: Two Towns Forged an Unlikely Bond. Now, ICE Is Severing the Connection
Contributor – Monte Reel

Feature; Medium

Winner – Minneapolis Star Tribune: Legal war engulfs 3M device
Contributor – Joe Carlson

Honorable Mention – Forbes.com: Wilbur Ross series
Contributor – Dan Alexander

Feature; Small

Winner – Nashville Business Journal: Mapping the new Nashville
Contributor – Eleanor Kennedy

Honorable Mention – The New Food Economy: Kansas is dying
Contributor – Corie Brown

Honorable Mention – Debtwire Investigations: How Burger King fed storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, and made a killing
Contributors – Seth Brumby, Javier Balmaceda, Xavira Neggers Crescioni

General Excellence; Industry/Topic-Specific Publications

Winner – American Banker
Contributors – Editorial Staff

General Excellence; Large

Winner – Financial Times
Contributors – Arash Massoudi, James Fontanella-Khan, Madison Marriage, Steven Bernard, Sujeet Indap, Amy Kazmin

General Excellence; Medium

Winner – The Dallas Morning News
Contributor – The Dallas Morning News staff

Honorable Mention – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contributor – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

General Excellence; Small

Winner – Nashville Business Journal
Contributor – Lori Becker

Honorable Mention – Triangle Business Journal
Contributor – Lauren Ohnesorge, Ben Graham, Cameron Snipes, Dane Huffman, Dathan Kazsuk

Government; Large

Winner – Reuters: Ambushed at home
Contributors – Joshua Schneyer, Michael Pell, Andrea Januta, Deborah Nelson

Government; Medium

Winner – Politico: Investigation of Ryan Zinke
Contributors – Ben Lefebvre, Nick Juliano

Honorable Mention – The Plain Dealer: Do wage theft laws in Ohio harm or help workers?
Contributor – Olivera Perkin

Government; Small

Winner – InsideClimate News: Dangers without borders
Contributor – Neela Banerjee, Sabrina Shankman, Nicholas Kusnetz, Paul Horn and Anna Belle Peevey

Honorable Mention – Capital & Main: Battery blood: How California health agencies failed Exide workers
Contributor – Joe Rubi

Honorable Mention – New Haven Independent: ‘Scoops & tosses’ $160M in old debt
Contributor – Christopher Peak

Health/Science; Large

Winner – A collaboration of ICIJ, NBC News Investigative Unit, The Associated Press and partners: The implant files
Contributor – Reporting & Data Teams

Honorable Mention – Financial Times: Opioid crisis and the Sackler family
Contributor – David Crow

Health/Science; Medium

Winner – ProPublica: Health Insurance Hustle
Contributor – Marshall Allen

Honorable Mention – ProPublica: Black Patients Miss Out On Promising Cancer Drugs
Contributors – Caroline Chen and Riley Wong

Health/Science; Small

Winner – Kaiser Health News: Drug price shenanigans
Contributors – Jay Hancock, Sarah Jane Tribble, Emily Kopp, Sydney Lupkin, Elizabeth Lucas

Honorable Mention – InsideClimate News: Surrounded by oil fields, an Alaska village fears for its health
Contributor – Sabrina Shankman

Innovation; Large

Winner – The New York Times: Visual narratives
Contributors – Nicholas Confessore, Gabriel Dance, Richard Harris, Mark Hansen, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Natasha Singer, Michael Keller, Aaron Krolik, Matthew Goldstein, Robert Gebeloff, Ross Mantle, Matt Ruby

Innovation; Medium

Winner – GateHouse Media: Failure to deliver
Contributors – Emily Le Coz, Josh Salman, Lucille Sherman, Tony Elkins, Mara Corbett, Tyson Bird, Jennifer Borresen

Innovation; Small

Honorable Mention – Crain’s Chicago Business: Chicago’s opioid crisis series
Contributors – Kristen Schorsch, Manuel Martinez, Jason McGregor, Cassie Walker Burke

International Reporting; Large

Winner – The Associated Press: China’s internment camps
Contributors – Dake Kang, Martha Mendoza, Yanan Wang

Honorable Mention – Businessweek: Brexit’s big short
Contributors – Cam Simpson, Gavin Finch, Kit Chellel

International Reporting; Medium

Winner – A collaboration of ProPublica and Time Magazine: Unprotected
Contributors – Finlay Young, Kathleen Flynn

International Reporting; Small

Winner – A collaboration of ICIJ, Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO) and 11 media partners from West Africa: West Africa Leaks

Investigative; Large

Winner – The Wall Street Journal: The fall of Steve Wynn
Contributors – Alexandra Berzon, Chris Kirkham, Elizabeth Bernstein, Kate O’Keeffe

Honorable Mention – The New York Times and The Guardian/The Observer of London: Facebook, disinformation and privacy
Contributors – New York Times staff with contributions from Carole Cadwalladr for The Guardian/The Observer of London, Matthew Rosenberg, Nicholas Confessore, Paul Mozur, Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang and Jack Nicas

Investigative; Medium

Winner – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bad medicine
Contributor – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Winner – The Dallas Morning News: Pain & profit
Contributor – J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez

Honorable Mention – Forbes.com: Wilbur Ross series
Contributor– Dan Alexander

Investigative; Small

Winner – A collaboration of The New Republic and The Investigative Fund: Political corruption and the art of the deal

Contributor – Anjali Kamat
Honorable Mention – A collaboration of The Intercept and The Investigative Fund: FINRA’s black hole
Contributor – Susan Antilla

Honorable Mention – A collaboration of ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ: Driven into debt
Contributors – Melissa Sanchez, Elliott Ramos, David Eads, Sandhya Kambhampati and WBEZ

Markets; Large