On the morning of Aug. 27, 2025, students and faculty of a Catholic school were gathered for a special Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis when an armed shooter fired dozens of rounds into the church.
Two children — Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski — died. So did the perpetrator.
The Minnesota Star Tribune staff on Monday was named the winner of this year’s award in Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the mass shooting, which also left 17 wounded. Marjorie Miller, administrator of the Pulitzers, described the coverage as “powerful stories marked by thoroughness and compassion.”
“We’re really honored and humbled. This was a story that hit literally close to home for some reporters,” Kathleen Hennessey, editor and senior vice president of The Star Tribune, told Poynter after the announcement. “It was just another very difficult story for this newsroom to cover, and they did an exceptional job and poured their hearts into it, and it’s nice to see it recognized.”
Several Star Tribune reporters live in the south Minneapolis neighborhood near the school or attend mass at Annunciation. One editor’s child was in the service that day. Reporters and staff photographers rushed to the unfolding scene. Richard Tsong-Taatarii, a staff photographer, captured an image of a barefoot mother running toward the church. It was viewed around the world.
Hennessey said the Catholic school shooting was the second of three major national breaking news events that took place in the area, also including the June 2025 assassinations of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
The Star Tribune staff mobilized in the same way for that coverage, the paper’s top editor said.
“Just about every corner of the newsroom had their fingers in this story in some way. We were live for days on the live blog. We had video and social coverage from the scene immediately. We had extraordinary photographers on the scene making really memorable photos from the very beginning,” Hennessey said. “This was the Breaking News prize and we’re really honored, but the reality is we’ve covered this story well beyond the seven-day window here and really made sure that we stayed close to this story and kept explaining the impact of this kind of violence for months.”
Staff gathered in the newsroom Monday to watch the Pulitzer Prize announcements. Some watched remotely, including Hennessey.
Early this year, Minneapolis was once again at the center of national news over the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents.
Hennessey said it’s been a very busy year for her staff.
Of the Pulitzer win, she said, “It feels really good because there’s a lot of great coverage, but it’s not one piece of journalism or one thing that stands out. This was teamwork at its core, and that newsroom just really poured their heart into this coverage, and it shows.”
The Breaking News finalists were the staff of The Wall Street Journal, staff of the Southern California News Group, and staff of The Seattle Times.
More on this year’s Pulitzers
- Here are the winners of the 2026 Pulitzer Prizes
- The Pulitzer winners offer a snapshot of journalism’s priorities and its changing power structure
- The Pulitzers name winners in two new categories, Beat Reporting and Opinion Writing
- Pablo Torre left the worldwide leader in sports to start a podcast. It just won a Pulitzer.
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