The staff of the Courier Journal, including Kentucky Open Government Coalition Director Alfred Miller, has been awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for coverage of last-minute pardons issued by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin before he left office.

The staff was recognized for "showing how the process was marked by opacity, racial disparities and violations of legal norms."

This is the eleventh Pulitzer Prize for the CJ. The newspaper today compiled a list of its previous awards:

1918 for editorial writing for two editorials written by Henry Watterson, former editor of The Courier Journal.

1926 for reporting on the famed case of southern Kentucky spelunker Floyd Collins.

1956 for editorial cartooning for a piece titled "Achilles."

1967 for public service for its coverage of strip mining in Kentucky that eventually led to the commonwealth passing some of the toughest laws on the matter in the nation.

1969 for local general or spot news reporting on a Knott County private's remains being returned home after he was hit by mortar fragments near Saigon.

1976 for feature photography of forced busing to integrate Jefferson County's purposely segregated system of public schools

1978 for local general or spot news reporting on the fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, which killed 162 people.

1980 for international reporting on refugee camps along the Cambodia-Thailand border.

1989 for general reporting on the fiery Carroll County bus crash that killed 24 children and three of their chaperones.

2005 for editorial cartooning for a portfolio of cartoons on national and international issues, including the war in Iraq and the 2004 presidential election.

2020 for breaking news reporting on former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's controversial pardons during his last weeks in office

Congratulations to the CJ staff and especially to our friend and fellow board member, Alfred, one of several tenacious reporters at the CJ, and in the state, who ensure that the sun shines bright on our Old Kentucky Home even in the darkest of times.