USC Shoah Foundation’s Rob Kuznia Wins Pulitzer Prize

Rob Kuznia, a member of the communication staff of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History, has been awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

Kuznia was awarded the prize for work done at the Daily Breeze newspaper in Torrance; he, reporter Rebecca Kimitch and city editor Frank Suraci were honored for coverage of the small Centinela Valley Union High School District, work that uncovered Superintendent Jose Fernandez’s excessive salary and perks — more than $660,000 in 2013 — as well as other serious issues within the district.

Kuznia joined the USC Shoah Foundation in August as a publicist. He was part of the institute’s team that traveled to Poland in January to cover the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz death camp.

The Pulitzers – the most prestigious awards in American journalism – are administered annually by Columbia University. The prize was announced Monday.