Press Democrat Wins Pulitzer For Wine Country Wildfire Reports
SANTA ROSA (AP) — The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa has won the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of devastating wildfires that swept through wine country in October.
Executive Editor Catherine Barnett said on the newspaper's website Monday that it is "a proud day for our newsroom."
Barnett says staff headed "toward the flames to bring a powerful and continual telling" of the story even as their friends, families, neighbors and co-workers were being affected.
She says the newspaper will continue to write on the many people who lost homes "and so much more" when several wildfires erupted October 8 and swept through Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties.
The blazes killed 44 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes.
The newspaper won a Pulitzer for spot news photography in 1997.
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