Explore Our Staff's Favorite Stories of the Year 

In 2021, the Pulitzer Center’s vibrant and resilient global community of journalists, educators, and partners met challenge after challenge with courage, inventiveness, and compassion. Our grantees used the power of data, art, and collaboration to bring some of their most ambitious and transformative reporting to diverse audiences locally and globally.

The over 200 reporting projects supported by the Pulitzer Center this year struck down bad laws, helped end harmful government programs, and bore witness to events and atrocities that otherwise would be hidden from public scrutiny. We supported over 300 grantees reporting from 79 countries (and counting), publishing stories on a diverse range of urgent global issues impacting communities around the world.

Pulitzer Center staff have selected just 32 stories to highlight in our 2021 list, from exposing illegal deforestation by cattle ranchers in the Amazon, to chronicling the last days of America’s longest war in Afghanistan. These pieces tell the stories of our time, and for our journalism partners, the stakes have never been higher.

These challenging times underscore the importance of thoughtful engagement with deep, investigative journalism. These stories would not be possible without the support of readers like you.

Will you help us continue to support journalism and education for the public good in 2022?

Following a Pulitzer Center-supported investigation by WBUR and ProPublica into controversial surveillance technology acquired by Boston police using funds gained from civil asset forfeiture, the Boston city councillors are seeking a review of the purchase of a cell site simulator, also known as a “stingray." Already, the same investigation has led lawmakers and criminal justice reform advocates to call for changes to the way the state seizes and holds property confiscated in suspected drug crimes. These calls come after the investigation found that one of the state’s top prosecutors was stockpiling money even after people were cleared of crimes.