"Lethal Lapses,"

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

Through meticulous reporting, the reporters documented how Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services mishandled cases involving 53 children who died in its care between 1998 and 2005. Reporters demonstrated great enterprise – scrutinizing Social Security Administration death records, coroner and police reports, and countless other materials – to connect the dots and identify the child victims. They got beyond confidentiality laws that too often leave the state's most vulnerable wards insufficiently protected and unknown even in death