Best newspaper or wire service interpretation of international affairs
AWARD YEAR: 2006
AWARD NAME: The Bob Considine Award 2006
RECIPIENT: Paul Salopek
AFFILIATION: Chicago Tribune
HONORED WORK: “A Tank of Gas, A World of Trouble”
They said it couldn’t be done — trace a gallon of gas sold in America to the oil producing countries from which it came. Paul Salopek thought otherwise. Learning that refineries kept “crude slates,” he convinced Marathon Oil to share the confidential list of crude deliveries at its Illinois refinery. In a series that crackles with verisimilitude, Salopek depicts both life in the oil fields of the strife-torn African states that produced the crude, and life among the truckers, Hummer drivers and down and outs at an all night Marathon station vending the final product on Chicago’s West side. Salopek’s effort is a model of how to plant a global story squarely on Main Street.
Citation for Excellence:
Michael Moss
The New York Times
“The Iraq Court System: Law and Disorder”