AP wins Pulitzer Prize for stories on enslaved fishermen in Asia

The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for documenting the use of slave labor in Southeast Asia to supply seafood to American tables.|

&LT;BR/&GT; BY JENNIFER PELTZ | ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY JENNIFER PELTZ | ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 18, 2016

THE WINNERS

JOURNALISM

Public Service:

The Associated Press, for a series of articles documenting the use of slave labor in the commercial seafood industry in Indonesia and Thailand. More than 2,000 enslaved fishermen were freed after officials took action as a result of the AP's reporting.

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Breaking News Reporting:

Los Angeles Times staff, for coverage of the San Bernardino massacre and the ensuing investigation.

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Investigative Reporting:

Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier, of the Tampa Bay Times, and Michael Braga, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, for a project on escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals.

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Explanatory Reporting:

T. Christian Miller, of ProPublica, and Ken Armstrong, of The Marshall Project, for a story about police and prosecutors who didn't believe an 18-year-old Washington woman when she reported that she was raped at knifepoint, and two Colorado detectives who arrested a serial rapist were able to connect the case back to the woman.

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Local Reporting:

Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner, of the Tampa Bay Times, for a story that studied the effects on education in Pinellas County, Florida, when schools in poor neighborhoods were essentially desegregated and neglected.

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National Reporting:

The Washington Post staff, for an examination of killings by police officers in the U.S., which found that 990 people had been shot and killed by on-duty police officers nationwide in 2015.

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International Reporting:

Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times, for coverage of abuse facing the women of Afghanistan.

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Feature Writing:

Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker, for a story about rupturing of the Cascadia fault line.

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Commentary:

Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe, for columns on the legacy of busing in Boston and its lingering effect on education.

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Criticism:

Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker, for television reviews.

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Editorial Writing:

John Hackworth, of Sun Newspapers in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, for editorials on a deadly assault of an inmate by guards.

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Editorial Cartooning:

Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee.

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Breaking News Photography:

Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter, of The New York Times, for photographs that captured the resolve of refugees, and Thomson Reuters staff, for photos of migrants covering hundreds of miles.

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Feature Photography:

Jessica Rinaldi, of The Boston Globe, for photos of a boy who strives to find his footing after being abused.

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LETTERS AND DRAMA

Fiction:

"The Sympathizer," by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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Drama:

"Hamilton," by Lin-Manual Miranda

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History:

"Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America," by T.J. Stiles

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Biography or Autobiography:

"Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life," by William Finnegan

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Poetry:

"Ozone Journal," by Peter Balakian

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General Nonfiction:

"Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS," by Joby Warrick

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MUSIC

"In for a Penny, In for a Pound," by Henry Threadgill

NEW YORK - The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for documenting the use of slave labor in Southeast Asia to supply seafood to American tables - an investigation that spurred the release of more than 2,000 captive workers.

The Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune received the investigative reporting prize for a project on mental hospitals, and the Tampa Bay Times also won in local reporting for studying the harmful effects of ending school integration in Pinellas County, Florida.

The Los Angeles Times won the breaking news prize for its coverage of the deadly shooting rampage by husband-and-wife extremists at a government building in San Bernardino, California, and The Washington Post received the national reporting award for an examination of killings by police in the U.S.

The New York Times won the international reporting award for detailing the plight of Afghan women, and the breaking news photography prize for images of refugees.

The Boston Globe was honored in the feature photography category for pictures of a boy who had suffered abuse, and the newspaper's Farah Stockman took the commentary prize for her work on the legacy of school busing in the city.

ProPublica and The Marshall Project received the award for explanatory reporting for exploring a rape case in which authorities initially didn't believe the victim, prosecuted her for lying, and years later came to realize she was telling the truth.

The New Yorker was awarded the feature reporting prize for a story on the enormous Cascadia fault line under the Pacific Ocean, while the magazine's Emily Nussbaum won in the criticism category for her TV reviews.

In editorial writing, John Hackworth of Sun Newspapers of Charlotte Harbor, Florida, was honored for his pieces about a deadly assault on an inmate by guards. Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee took the editorial cartooning prize for what judges called work that conveys "wry, rueful perspectives through sophisticated style."

The awards marked the centennial of the Pulitzers, American journalism's highest honors.

AP journalists Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza and Esther Htusan chronicled how men from Myanmar and other countries were being imprisoned, sometimes in cages, in an island village in Indonesia and forced to work on fishing vessels. Numerous men reported maimings and deaths on their boats.

The 18-month project involved tracking slave-caught seafood to processing plants that supply supermarkets, restaurants and pet stores in the U.S. Subsequent AP reports detailed the use of slave labor in processing shrimp.

"If Americans and Europeans are eating this fish, they should remember us," Hlaing Min, 30, a runaway slave from the Indonesian island, told The AP. "There must be a mountain of bones under the sea."

The stories, photos and videos led to freedom for thousands of fishermen and other laborers, numerous arrests, seizures of millions of dollars in goods and crackdowns on Thai shrimp peeling plants.

AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll commended all of AP's journalists, saying they "stand up for people who don't have a voice" and "use the tools of our craft to inform the world and, occasionally, right wrongs that need to be righted."

The Post, meanwhile, explored an issue that has prompted protests and debate around the U.S. in recent years. The newspaper found that in 2015, on-duty police officers shot and killed 990 people nationwide - and that unarmed black men were seven times more likely to die at the hands of police officers than unarmed whites. More than 50 of the officers had killed someone before.

Established by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, the prizes were first given out in 1917. Public service award winners receive a gold medal; the other awards carry a prize of $10,000 each.

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Online:

The AP's "Seafood from Slaves" series: http://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/

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This story has been corrected to show that the first Pulitzer was awarded in 1917, not 1916.