2008
Dana Priest and Anne Hull of The Washington Post, for coverage of conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

2007
Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman of the Hartford Courant, for their series exposing the US military’s recruitment and deployment of mentally ill soldiers into Iraq.

2006
Reporters and editors from The Washington Post, for their series exposing illegal activities and corruption surrounding Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

2005
Reporters and editors from The Washington Post, for their series exposing lead contamination in the District of Columbia water supply and the failure of public officials to inform and protect residents.

2004
Reporters and editors from Gannett New Jersey newspapers, for their groundbreaking series exposing a government system that allows elected officials to exploit their positions for personal gain.

2003
A team of reporters and editors from the Boston Globe, for their series "Crisis in the Catholic Church" that led to a new movement among laity, a new state law requiring clergy to report sexual abuse, grand jury investigations, a revolt among Boston priests against their leadership, a national child-protection policy in the Catholic Church, and ultimately the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston, one of the nation's most influential Catholic prelates.

2002
Heidi Evans and David Saltonstall of the New York Daily News, for "classic investigative reporting" in their expose of possible financial misconduct and other illegal activities at Hale House, the renowned Harlem shelter serving women and children.

2001
Virginia Ellis of the Los Angeles Times, in recognition of uncovering information that led to the resignation of California's state insurance commissioner, termed by award judges as "a classic example of persistent investigative reporting that exposed official wrongdoing and got results."

2000
(co-winners) A reporter team from The Philadelphia Inquirer for "The Rape Squad Files" and Katherine Boo of The Washington Post for "Invisible Lives, Invisible Deaths."

1999
A team of reporters from The Washington Post for their series "Deadly Force: An Investigation of D. C. Police Shootings."

1998
Gary Cohn and Will Englund of The Baltimore Sun for "The Shipbreakers," exposing a covert international industry.

1997
Byron Acohido of The Seattle Times for his series "Safety At Issue: The 737," which detailed serious problems with the Boeing 737.

1996
Ginger Thompson and Gary Cohn of The Baltimore Sun for "Battalion 316," exposing atrocities committed by a secret Honduran military intelligence unit.

1995
Five reporters for The New Orleans Times-Picayune for their series exposing political influence peddling involving the legalized gaming industry.

1994
Eileen Welsome of The Albuquerque Tribune for revealing that hundreds of Americans unknowingly had been used in government radiation experiments.

1993
Roy Gutman, Newsday's European correspondent, for exposing the horror of widespread imprisonment, deportation and murder of Muslims in Bosnia.

1992
A team from The Greenville (South Carolina) News, for uncovering financial extravagance by high officials of the University of South Carolina.

1991
Candy J. Cooper of The San Francisco Examiner for a series documenting the handling of rape cases by the Oakland, Calif., Police Department.

1990
(co-winners) Jane O. Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for her series concerning abused and neglected Georgia children; and a team of ten journalists from the The Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader for investigating questionable financial policies in the Kentucky school system.