East Bay Times wins Pulitzer Prize for Ghost Ship fire coverage

The East Bay Times staff has won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of December's Ghost Ship fire.

In announcing the award, the judges said the East Bay Times received the award “for relentless coverage of the ‘Ghost Ship' fire, which killed 36 people at a warehouse party, and for reporting after the tragedy that exposed the city's failure to take actions that might have prevented it.”

It was the third national award for coverage of the deadly blaze.

The American Society of News Editors, in announcing it had won its breaking news award, described the work as “digital storytelling at its best.” The ASNE honor cames a month after the Ghost Ship fire coverage won the 2016 Scripps Howard Award for breaking news.

“Winning the most prestigious honor in journalism is humbling,” said Neil Chase, executive editor of the East Bay Times and The Mercury News. “It's testimony to the incredible efforts of our talented journalists, and their dedication to serving this community and discovering the truth about what happened.”

Read ongoing coverage of the Ghost Ship fire investigations here. Profiles of the victims are here.