The Southern California News Group, a collection of 11 local news publications including this one, was recognized Monday, May 4, 2026 as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for the staff’s coverage of the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfires.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune won the prize for its coverage of the Annunciation school shooting. The other finalists were The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times.
The Pulitzer Prize is considered the most distinguished prize in journalism across the United States. More than 1,000 entries are submitted each year across various newsrooms.
“This is a huge honor for our entire newsroom,” said Frank Pine, executive editor for the Southern California News Group. “Every journalist on our staff participated in covering these fires. It was and continues to be a tremendous effort. We do this work in service to our communities, and we are grateful to the Pulitzer judges for recognizing these efforts.”
The Southern California News Group’s coverage started immediately after the first reports of fire in the Pacific Palisades and grew with the spread of the blazes throughout the region. More than 40 stories were published in the first three days of coverage and dozens more were published in the first week.
Journalists in all departments of the newsroom contributed to the effort, including several who worked as their homes and hometowns were in jeopardy.
“The communities we cover and some of our staff suffered immeasurable losses from the Eaton and Palisades fires and for those of us who covered it, it is something we will never forget,” said Daniel Tedford, the Southern California News Group’s senior editor who oversees crime and public safety coverage. “We just wanted the journalism we produced to reflect what our friends and neighbors were experiencing and to represent Altadena, Pasadena, the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and all the impacted communities the best that we could.
“I’m very proud of our staff and we are very humbled by this honor.”
The finalist recognition was the first for the Southern California News Group since it was created in 2016. The Southern California News Group’s newspapers have a combined five Pulitzer Prizes in their history.
The Southern California News Group previously took second place for its breaking coverage of the Southern California fires in the annual Best of the West competition.
The Chicago Tribune, a part of the Southern California News Group’s parent company, won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for its coverage of immigration raids in the city. It was also a finalist in the Public Service category.
Locally, the Los Angeles Times was a finalist in two categories: Breaking News Photography for its coverage of the Southern California fires and Opinion Writing for columnist Gustavo Arellano, who was a finalist for the second consecutive year.