I’m delighted to share that Times Opinion’s series on modern nuclear threats, At the Brink, was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. This series represents Opinion at its finest: identifying an overlooked, urgent policy question with few easy solutions; reporting deeply on the crucial nuances and complex details, never losing sight of the real people affected; writing with clarity, authority and vivid prose; and working together, across the department, to shape and elevate the series into its peak form. Indeed, At the Brink is the most ambitious multimedia project the ever-creative team in Opinion has published. The series also reflects our larger mission as a department: to help our readers, listeners and viewers gain a deeper understanding of society and the world through idea-driven argument and commentary that have vital stakes. A safer, peaceful planet may not be a motivating idea in every news cycle in our modern age, but it’s a vision and a goal that unites all of us. Celebrating this honor must begin with W.J. Hennigan, the project’s lead writer, whose intricate knowledge of the subject and sourcing were instrumental in the way that he reported this series — as was his deep sense of empathy. Finding the impact of the new era of nuclear proliferation on communities and individuals, he skillfully rendered a topic that is too often relegated to the technical and made it feel undeniably real. The series broke news and took readers inside parts of the nuclear-industrial complex that are rarely seen. Yet, as with any undertaking of this magnitude, it took invaluable work from a team of colleagues to make this series happen: Krista Mahr and Meeta Agrawal edited the series. Spencer Cohen was a tireless partner to the whole team and fact-checked nearly every piece of this project, scrutinizing every detail with diligence and care. Kate Elazegui’s art direction set the tone for the entire series with the series opener, The Brink. From editors to fact checkers, art directors to video producers, photographers to graphic designers and audio engineers to audience strategists, the collaboration on this series was unmatched. Working together like this is how we realize our journalistic ambitions. Our department does so much work day in and day out with distinction, but as an American, as a child of the 1980s, as a parent in this century and as a journalist, I think a lot about the world that we live in and the world we wish we had. That’s part of why I wanted to publish this series. While this recognition from the Pulitzer Prize Board — as well as a National Magazine Award for excellence in design and an Emmy nomination — is incredibly appreciated, we don’t do this work for prizes. There are many things I am deeply proud of the Opinion staff for — you can see them in our biggest efforts, like At the Brink, but also in our daily report: our commitment to excellence, our intrinsic trust and respect in one another and the talents that each person and team bring to the table and our ability to build bigger, better things together than any one of us could dream up on our own. Here’s what we’re focusing on today:
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