Six Berkeley Journalism alumni honored in 2023 Pulitzer Prizes

Serginho Roosblad (‘18)

The work of six alumni was honored in the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes, in the Breaking News, International Reporting, Investigative Reporting and Public Service categories, Columbia University announced this month.

Serginho Roosblad (‘18), video producer for the Associated Press, was on the team that won the prize for Public Service for “Courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The stories included a video produced by Roosblad about a medic who captured exclusive bodycam footage while treating Ukrainian and Russian victims, including children, during the bloody siege of Mariupol. Like the stuff of intelligence lore, a data card no bigger than a thumbnail was smuggled out to the world inside a tampon, past 15 Russian checkpoints before the medic was captured by the Russians. Read the AP’s dramatic account of how the story came together here.

The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is always awarded to a news organization, not an individual, although an individual may be named in the citation.

Yousur Al-Hlou, center, and Masha Froliak, journalists for The New York Times who were part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their work in Ukraine. (James Estrin/The New York Times)

International Managing Editor Greg Winter (’00) and video journalist Yousur Al-Hlou (’14) were on the staff of The New York Times that won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for unflinching coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings. Winter edited the largest story in the Pulitzer-winning package, “Putin’s War” and did some other editing in the package as well.  Read Al-Hlou’s reaction to the win here.

Nick Miroff (’06)

Reporter Nick Miroff (’06), whose name appeared on five bylines of a seven-part Washington Post investigation into fentanyl’s deadly surge, was named a finalist in Public Service for showing how government failures aggravated the worst drug crisis in American history. The jury named The Post one of two finalists competing for the country’s top journalism prize, which ultimately was won by the AP.

Melanie Mason (’10) was part of the Los Angeles Times’ team that won for Breaking News Reporting for revealing a secretly recorded conversation among Los Angeles city officials that included racist comments. This winning series, based on leaked audio that began as “City Hall intrigue,” led to a First Amendment battle over the right to publish information of public interest to constituents.

Melanie Mason (’10)

Outrage over government failures also informed the reporting of Joaquin Palomino (’15), a data and investigative reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, who was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Investigative Reporting for “Broken Homes.” The story detailed how the San Francisco mayor’s administration had failed to properly staff and oversee the century-old single room occupancy hotels, or SROs, that it relies on to house unhoused people, allowing the buildings to become overrun by chaos.

“Watching the careers these alumni have forged since graduating is such a strong point of pride for the school,” Geeta Anand, dean of Berkeley Journalism said. “Prizes don’t mean everything, but they do make us feel proud and heard and help amplify our efforts, and so I am so thrilled for them.”

Joaquin Palomino (’15)

Each of the winners was deeply touched by the recognition.

“This is the highest honor in journalism, so it means a lot to me,” Roosblad said. “It underscores the importance of the great journalism of the Associated Press and of the work of three journalists who, despite being in the most vulnerable situation, during a very uncertain time, kept working and informing the world what was happening in Mariupol during the siege. I feel very honored that I played a role in uplifting their reporting and voices.”

Mason called the honor “especially meaningful” because it’s for work as a collaborative newsroom. “Above all, it’s a testament to our remarkable City Hall team, who lived and breathed every aspect of this story,” Mason said. “Not only that, they were eager to join forces with others and welcomed my contribution (a profile of one of the councilmembers caught on tape whom I had covered for years in Sacramento). One of the real joys of working at the LA Times is how the newsroom comes together to cover major stories, so this recognition is particularly sweet.”

Read Al-Hlou’s reaction to the win here.

Miroff described the series as a tough project on a grim subject.

“We were compelled by an urgent sense that the country was becoming numb to fentanyl’s toll during the pandemic,” Miroff said. “Our series spurred the government to act and devote more resources and attention to the crisis. That has meant a lot to our reporting team and the people we wrote about in the series.”

They started with “an astonishingly terrifying statistic,” he explained — 100,000 Americans dying per year from drug overdoses. “Then we set about to unpack that number: the forces that produced it, the mistakes that enabled it, the people affected by it. It was an accountability project, reported in two countries, rooted in real human tragedies.”

“This project was a massive effort — not just from the reporters, but also editors, photographers, and graphic designers — and it was truly a special feeling to see all the hard work get this recognition,” Palomino said. “We also couldn’t have done the series without the tenants and staff members who have long been overlooked, but who trusted us to tell their stories.”

“We had to gather reams of public records, analyze data and talk to hundreds of people for the series. My time at the J-school helped lay the foundation for that work.”

His fellow honorees were also eager to give a hat tip to the training they received in the early part of their careers.

Mason said she had “virtually zero journalism experience” before she got to the J-School. “I learned the essentials of beat reporting by working on Oakland North with Cynthia Gorney and Kara Platoni (’99). And the late Susan Rasky knew I was meant to be a political reporter, even before I knew it myself; even now, I’m constantly drawing on her insights about covering politicians.”

“I feel like learning more about documentary filmmaking in a news setting paid off tremendously,” Roosblad said. “I’m using creative visual (and audio) storytelling tools in the editing, while my judgments are informed by journalism, taught most notably by former lecturer Spencer Nakasako and Professor Jon Else; skills I learned at the J-school and continued to hone in the years after graduating.”

Miroff said the skills and journalistic values fostered by the J School have guided him throughout his career: “Be ambitious in picking targets. Report stories to the ground. Put in the time with sources until you fully understand the story. Write and rewrite until it’s right.”

Miroff credits his “incredible teachers and mentors” — Lydia Chavez, Adam Hochschild, Sandy Tolan, the Kitchen Sisters, Orville Schell and Cynthia Gorney. “I learned so much from my classmates and friends too. Those years at North Gate Hall inspired good journalism and they were some of the best times of my life,” he said.

-By Marlena Telvick