Single Article: Under 200,000 circulation

A tip led reporter Michael LaForgia to a far bigger story -- about systemic failures in Florida to protect children who attend summer camps. During months of reporting, he discovered that anyone -- even a convicted child molester -- could run a summer camp in the state of Florida. And they were. After building his own database of cobbled-together records, LaForgia found a camp operator who had been convicted of molesting a 6-year-old girl. He also found a con man and a crack dealer among those trusted to watch over children. His work led lawmakers to close the loophole that enabled these people to operate camps.

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What distinguishes this story of recovery is the merciful lack of a tidy ending. Joan Garrett’s intimate portrait of an addict struggling to reclaim some of the life she discarded doesn’t flinch from the pain of her subject or the obstacles she still faces, and it leaves the last word to the person most affected – the subject’s young son.

“Mental illness is an insidious form of identity theft, erasing one future and replacing it with another,” writes Smith in this powerful tale that brings home the nightmare of families who try to navigate one state’s broken mental health care system. The writing is original, compelling and clear. The story deftly moves from a wrenching narrative of a mother grieving for her tormented son, to a news peg of a recent shooting spree, to explanatory reporting on overtaxed state resources.

This piece won the Single Story 75,000-199,999 category, which has since been merged with the Single Story under 75,000 category to form the Single Story under 200,000 circulation category.

With ongoing debates over the definition of family, Brown and Hamilton offer timely and rare insights into same-sex relationships forged out of painful experiences instead of biological orientation. Thorough reporting addresses controversy head on, drawing out their sometimes wary sources and weaving in expert opinion. Their beautiful writing makes this a fully compelling read.

This piece won the Single Story under 75,000 category, which has since been merged with the Single Story 75,000-199,999 category to form the Single Story under 200,000 circulation category.

The reporter sensitively conveys a young woman's heavy burdens in interpreting U.S. culture and the English language for her Laotian parents. Through her attentive, even-handed reporting, O'Malley gained the confidence of the family and of the immigrant community; her story buttresses their appeal for more official interpreters. The piece exemplifies the paper’s commitment to covering quiet but important cultural changes.

Nolan and Riede use a variety of techniques to illustrate how school officials understated a serious dropout problem through sloppy and devious record-keeping. What was perhaps most impressive was the reporters' ability to get confidential records, which allowed them to put a face on the kids who drop out.

Demer had heard rumors about Alaskan children being sent to psychiatric hospitals outside the state and after investigating further, she found that the numbers of those sent away -- and the cost of their care -- had risen dramatically over a short period of time. She weaves solid documentary reporting with compelling personal accounts to create a story with statewide importance.