The monthly journalism award.

Charles Pillar, Edmund Sanders, and Robyn Dixon Los Angeles Times January 7th & 8th "Money Clashes With Mission" "Dark Cloud Over Good Works of Gates Foundation"

The Gates Foundation--run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, and, soon, Warren Buffet--has an endowment larger than the GDP of 70 percent of the world's nations. In part because of the resources at its disposal, the foundation's accomplishments have been remarkable. But a resourceful L.A. Times investigation scrutinized thousands of pages of financial data and found that the investments that sustain the foundation's work often directly clash with its philanthropic aims.

In Seattle, the Times interviewed one couple who had fallen victim to a predatory lending scheme. The Gates Foundation had invested $2 million in the mortgage company, Ameriquest; it had also awarded $1.2 million to a nonprofit organization that advised the couple on their plight. In Nigeria, the Times found a baby who had been immunized by a group funded by the foundation; he also suffered from respiratory trouble caused by nearby oil plants owned by...