We aren’t going to be the least bit shy about saying this: Our immensely talented friend John Branch (and team) won the freakin’ Pulitzer Prize for the spectacular reporting and execution of Snow Fall for the New York Times in 2013. Aside from hard work and talent and all that, John has empathy for other people and his writing reflects that sensitivity.

In his own words: “I came to the NY Times in 2005. Ten years before that, I was a veteran Costco manager curious about changing careers. I received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado and became a business reporter, then a sports reporter, at the Colorado Springs Gazette. I was a columnist at the Fresno Bee. Earlier jobs that prepared me for this work include dishwasher, hotel bellman and a steam engine train engineer.”