MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is celebrating three 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in the categories of explanatory journalism, local reporting and editorial writing. The Arizona Republic | USA TODAY NETWORK won for explanatory reporting for its project “The Wall: Unknown Stories, Unintended Consequences,” The Cincinnati Enquirer staff won for local reporting with “Seven Days of Heroin,” and The Des Moines Register’s Andie Dominick won for editorial writing.

“The Wall” was a landmark multi-platform project that examined President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The explanatory report, led by then Arizona Republic’s vice president of news and editor Nicole Carroll, recently named editor in chief of USA TODAY, provides an in-depth look at the border through immersive technology, including aerial and 360-degree video, virtual reality, bots, drones, documentaries, photos, podcasts, and LiDAR data. The report was published at a crucial time when Congress was considering funding for a border wall and continues to inform policy discussions.

The Pulitzer Prize board named “The Wall” a winner “for vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.”

“Seven Days of Heroin: This is What an Epidemic Looks Like,” shines a spotlight on Cincinnati’s opioid and heroin crisis. Over the course of one week, 60 journalists investigated what has become the region’s greatest health crisis, during which they reported 180 overdoses and 18 deaths.

The board awarded The Cincinnati Enquirer “for a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati's heroin epidemic, revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities.”

The Des Moines Register’s Andie Dominick was named 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing about issues in Iowa related to health care, such as the governor’s privatization of Medicaid, state lawmakers’ efforts to impede fetal tissue research, and how the Trump administration’s handling of the Affordable Care Act jeopardizes access to coverage.

The judges praised Andie Dominick “for examining in a clear, indignant voice, free of cliché or sentimentality, the damaging consequences for poor Iowa residents of privatizing the state’s administration of Medicaid.”

In addition, two others earned honors as Pulitzer Prize finalists. They are:

Brett Murphy of USA TODAY NETWORK, for “Rigged: Forced in Debt. Worked Past Exhaustion. Left with Nothing,” in the National Reporting category. This yearlong investigation found that port trucking companies in southern California have spent the past decade forcing drivers to finance their own trucks by taking on debt they could not afford.

Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press, for Editorial Cartooning. Mike’s work offers commentary on politics, news, current events and pop culture. The Pulitzer judges said Mike created “a provocative, nuanced and impactful portfolio of editorial cartoons that took on a variety of social issues, including, health care, police brutality, sexual harassment and education, through traditional panels and digital animation.”

“The USA TODAY NETWORK’s tremendous accomplishment of winning three Pulitzer Prizes and being recognized as finalists in two other categories underscores the value of the journalism put forth by our newsrooms across the country,” said Robert J. Dickey, president and CEO, Gannett. “Our journalists earned such prestigious honors because of the impact that their hard work had from the local to national level, and that result is the goal media organizations strive to achieve every day. Today is a cause for celebration.”

“We are so proud of the work of the USA TODAY NETWORK’s journalists and honored by the Pulitzer Board’s recognition of their incredible feats of journalism in 2017,” said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president, USA TODAY NETWORK and publisher, USA TODAY. “To have five Network teams be recognized by the Pulitzer Prize board is a reflection of the ambition, impact and excellence of our journalism. Most importantly, the work cited brought illumination to complex and troubling issues, helped to right wrongs, humanized some of the greatest challenges faced by our nation and served as a catalyst for vital dialogue.”

About USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co, Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is the largest local-to-national media organization in the country, powered by our award-winning newsrooms and marketing solutions business. With deep roots in local communities spanning the U.S. with more than 100 brands, plus USA TODAY, we engage more than 110 million people every month through a diverse portfolio of multi-platform content offerings and experiences. For more information, visit www.gannett.com.

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