Miami Herald Editorial Board wins Pulitzer for ‘Broken Promises’ series on civic letdowns
The Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for a series of editorials that shines light on unfulfilled and forgotten promises to improve the community.
The Pulitzer for editorial writing recognized “Broken Promises” a series that focused on vows from the powerful — politicians and developers — to build parks, revive historic but struggling neighborhoods and boost transportation.
The series showed how voters were let down over and over again in South Florida.
“This honor affirms the obvious: Opinion journalism is vital,” said Nancy Ancrum, the Miami Herald’s editorial page editor. “Opinion journalism holds the powerful to account. Opinion journalism forces things to change — for the better.
“ ‘Broken Promises’ acting on behalf of a public already distrustful of government, highlighted the failure of several local institutions,” Ancrum said. “I think that is an editorial board’s most profound mission.”
The award was the Miami Herald’s 24th Pulitzer, and the first for the Editorial Board since 2017 when Jim Morin won for his editorial cartoons. Last year, the Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the Surfside condo collapse.
The “Broken Promises” series that won the Pulitzer for editorial writing covered a variety of issues and served one of the tenets of local journalism: holding politicians and others who have the public trust accountable for their actions — and inactions. The series was published over several days late last year.
“The idea for this series of editorials came from being a journalist and resident of South Florida for many years,” said Amy Driscoll, deputy editorial page editor who helped lead the effort. ”I love Miami. It’s vibrant and seductive and interesting and crazy. But it also has a sort of collective amnesia when it comes to the promises of our politicians — to the detriment of the people who live here.
“But I remembered those promises. It bothered me to see politicians persuading voters to tax themselves for transportation that never comes, to give away prime waterfront land to sports teams in exchange for parks that are never built, to listen to assurances that we’re preserving our natural environment and our indigenous history and our Black history. And then over and over, nothing happens.”
Driscoll continued: “Miami deserves better. I hope ‘Broken Promises’ shows our leaders that we intend to hold them accountable for the people of Miami.”
In addition to Ancrum and Driscoll, the Miami Herald Editorial Board team consists of editorial page writers Luisa Yanez and Isadora Rangel, as well as audience engagement producer Lauren Costantino.
“I’m thrilled the Pulitzer judges recognized this series and this team,” said McClatchy Opinion Editor Peter St. Onge. “ ‘Broken Promises’ is extraordinary opinion journalism, but it also is the kind of powerful, deeply reported commentary that Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll and their team produce each week for Herald readers.”
Public trust was the bedrock behind the editorials, as the series laid out for readers: .
“Miami leaders talk a good game about building a world-class city, but they fall far short when it comes to following through on some of the biggest civic promises made by politicians and developers,” the Miami Herald Editorial Board wrote in a summary of the series.
“As an Editorial Board, we wanted to shine a light on some of those broken promises, especially the ones that have stretched for years, into decades. Our project examines five unfulfilled pledges made to the people of South Florida and demands that our leaders — even if they weren’t in office at the time — make good on them. We believe it’s our job, on behalf of voters, to hold the powerful to account.”
Read the Miami Herald’s ‘Broken Promises’ series
SUMMARY: Behind Broken Promises: Miami has a trust problem. Herald Editorial Board wants solutions
ARENA PARK: How long must Miami wait for a park at Heat arena? 26 years and counting
ISLAND PARK: Island off Miami could be our Central Park. Politics got in the way
BLACK COMMUNITIES: Miami’s erasing its Black history one bungalow at a time. Who will stop it?
MASS TRANSIT: Black residents in Northwest Dade have waited 30+ years for Metrorail. Surprised?
CITY HISTORY: Miami’s ancient history still not on display. One is a dog park
The 2023 Pulitzer Prize winners
PUBLIC SERVICE: Mstyslav Chernov, Lori Hinnant, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko, The Associated Press
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The Los Angeles Times
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: The Wall Street Journal
EXPLANATORY REPORTING: Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic
LOCAL REPORTING: John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens, AL.com; Anna Wolfe, Mississippi Today
NATIONAL REPORTING: Caroline Kitchener, The Washington Post
INTERNATIONAL REPORTING: The New York Times
FEATURE WRITING: Eli Saslow, The Washington Post
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY: The Associated Press
FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: Christina House, Los Angeles Times
COMMENTARY: Kyle Whitmire, AL.com
CRITICISM: Andrea Long Chu, New York magazine
EDITORIAL WRITING: Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald
ILLUSTRATED REPORTING AND COMMENTARY: Mona Chalabi, The New York Times
AUDIO JOURNALISM: Gimlet Media, notably Connie Walker
FICTION: “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver; “Trust” by Hernan Diaz
DRAMA: “English” by Sanaz Toossi
GENERAL NONFICTION: “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa
BIOGRAPHY: “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century,” by Beverly Gage
MEMOIR OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY: “Stay True” by Hua Hsu
POETRY: “Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020,” by Carl Phillips
MUSIC: “Omar,” by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abel
