There was a time when The Washington Post had a pretty liberal tour policy. I was in my early 20s, and I’d walk guests up to a blank expanse of wall and explain this was my favorite spot in the newsroom.
It was where we listed our Pulitzer Prize winners, and we’d set aside space on the wall for future victories. Some days, that wall was an espresso shot of motivation. Other days, it was an intoxicating display of hubris.
My work is going on that wall. I’m part of a team honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service — the highest echelon of the highest honor in American journalism — for The Post’s coverage of how Donald Trump upended the federal government in the first year of his second presidency.
I am awestruck. I am grateful. I love my Washington Post family.
My Reuters team also had a tremendous Pulitzer showing: first prize for beat reporting and national reporting, and as finalists for illustrated reporting and commentary, and breaking news photography.
A great deal of this work at The Post began before Trump took office, when he announced Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, to remake the federal bureaucracy. Many outlets figured this effort would sputter out – and it did, eventually – and covered it as a sideshow of the Trump presidency. The Post did not.
My colleagues and I were uniquely positioned to cover agencies that many of us had spent our careers working to crack. Hannah Natanson emerged as the “DOGE whisperer;” her work so threatened the Trump administration, the FBI launched an unprecedented (and likely unlawful) raid on her home.
By the end of 2025, the Trump administration fired tens of thousands of workers – by some measures, more than 300,000 people left the federal government – slashed state capacity, undermined crucial civil services, and deconstructed much of the framework that supports American democracy.
Much of that was done in secret. The American people know about it because of The Post, and journalists including Hannah, Meryl Kornfield, Jeff Stein, Rachel Siegel, Emily Davies, Dan Diamond, Cat Zakrzewski, Lizza Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui, William Wan and so many more, with editing predominantly by Mike Madden, Dan Eggen and Jen Liberto.
From left: William Wan, me, Rachel Siegel, Lisa Rein and Peter Spiegel celebrating in the newsroom.
Our WaPo Econ team. From left: Riley Beggin, Faiz Siddiqui, Jeff Stein, me, Mike Madden, Jen Liberto, Hannah Natanson, David Lynch, Rachel Siegel, Lauren Gurley and Andrew Ackerman.
I am so grateful to this group. Being part of their number and calling them friends has been the privilege of a lifetime. And I’ll forever be in their debt for the chance to join their work and share in the title of winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
There are so many people I want to thank from my personal life. This is a non-exhaustive list:
Barry and Ellen, my parents, who didn’t tell me I was crazy when I said I was interested in journalism as a high school student in 2009.
My brother, Aaron, for refusing to read my stories for years and years and years. And then when I told him we won the Pulitzer, he responded with genuine happiness for me. Maybe this will lead him to purchase a Reuters subscription.
My grandparents, Joe and Shirley, who aren’t around. They were the best people in the world to tell your good news. The greatest gifts I’ve received in life came when my grandparents – both news junkies – would read a story, call to tell me about it, and then belatedly realize I had written it. They’d send me emails signed G&G. My heroes.
My Bubbe, Zelda, who is also not around. The smartest person I knew for most of my life, who taught me good information can come from anywhere.
My wife, Dani. My everything. Accountability journalism is a contact sport. And for much of the year, you took care of both of our lives while I was chasing stories. You believed in this work as much as I did. I love you.
Dani came to the newsroom with me for the Post watch party.
My sources, who shall remain nameless. Thank you for trusting me and my colleagues and honoring us with your reliable, unvarnished truth.
The Missouri School of Journalism, the best J-School in the world. That’s all there is to it.
Peter Huck, my high school journalism teacher, who told me midway through my freshman year, “I think you could be good at this.” At least a few people agree. But I got started because of you.
And to my dog, Cash. Yes, this is a real thank-you to my dog. I know you don’t care if dad won a Pulitzer Prize. But I did, and I know you’re proud of me in your own way.
