The second-youngest reporter to win the most prestigious prize in journalism, Penn State Alumna and Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting on Monday after years of intrepid reporting and breaking the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal in March 2011.
Ganim worked on the story for months, even before she revealed the earliest story on the grand jury investigation in March 2011. Ganim was first to report the findings of the full grand jury investigation in November 2011, and the news skyrocketed to international infamy, as reporters by the dozens swarmed upon Penn State’s campus to cover what has been called the biggest scandal in NCAA history.
Ganim graduated from Penn State in 2008, is an alumna of Penn State’s independent student newspaper The Daily Collegian and worked at The Centre Daily Times in State College before moving to the Patriot News.
The award comes in the form of $10,000, awarded to Ganim for “Courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky,” according to the Pulitzer Prize website.
According to the Patriot-News, at least 2,400 entries are submitted for the Pulitzer annually and 21 are given awards.
Ganim was a recipient of the 2011 George Polk Awards in Journalism for her coverage of the scandal.
Sandusky faces 52 counts in connection with the allegations that he abused 10 boys over a 15-year period. The former assistant football coach maintains his innocence and is currently under house arrest, where he is awaiting a June trial date.
