The Madeline Dane Ross Award 2005

Best international reporting in the print medium showing a concern for the human condition

AWARD YEAR: 2005

AWARD NAME: The Madeline Dane Ross Award 2005

RECIPIENT: Cam Simpson

AFFILIATION: Chicago Tribune

HONORED WORK: “Pipeline to Peril”

This moving, two-part series on the little-noted kidnap and murder of 12 Nepalese workers in Iraq uncovered a shocking network of contractors and subcontractors — leading back to the U.S. government – that deceitfully and illegally lured poor foreigners as cheap labor for American bases, then failed to provide proper care and security. Simpson’s work was a model of initiative, tenacity, and investigative skill, finally leading to an official probe by the U.S. State Department, which credited the series for dramatizing the “dark side” of global labor trafficking.

(No citation)