1996 George Polk Award Winners at a Glance

National Reporting-Elizabeth Marchak, The Plain Dealer, for "The FAA and ValuJet Airlines," stories exposing air-safety violations and the Federal Aviation Administration's lack of follow-through on violations flagged by its inspectors.

Transportation Reporting-Byron Acohido, The Seattle Times, for "Safety at Issue: the 737," a five-part series citing a flawed rudder as the likely cause of several crashes and Boeing and the FAA's resistance to acknowledging the problem.

Local Reporting-Kevin Collison, The Buffalo News, for linking the death of a teenager run over on a highway on her way to work at a suburban shopping mall with a policy denying access to city buses in order to discourage minority customers.

Magazine Reporting-Anne-Marie Cusac, The Progressive, for "Stunning Technology," exposing life-threatening dangers of security devices used in American prisons and exported for use by some repressive foreign regimes.

Foreign Reporting-John F. Burns, The New York Times, for an authoritative and daring series of stories on the brutal takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan, by the Taliban, a militia formed by fundamentalist religious students.

Foreign Television Reporting-Christiane Amanpour and Anita Pratap, CNN, for "Battle for Afghanistan," an examination of the latest armed struggle for control with revealing interviews of key figures in two competing camps.

Economics Reporting-The New York Times, for "The Downsizing of America," a series documenting effects of 15 years of layoffs and examining their cumulative impacts on the collective American psyche.

Political Reporting-Los Angeles Times, for "Money from Asia," which traced a river of funding from Asian sources to the coffers of the Democratic National Committee, much of it suspect and some in violation of federal law.

Cultural Reporting-Chuck Philips, Los Angeles Times, for redefining coverage of the music industry in America with his detailed accounts of the inner workings of a $12-billion business that has long resisted scrutiny.

National Television Reporting-Matt Meagher and Tim Peek, Inside Edition, for "Door to Door Insurance," an undercover investigation of the unethical and illegal exploitation of poor Americans by some in the industry.

Criticism-Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune, for a perceptive examination of a wide range of issues and controversies in Chicago architecture in a manner that encouraged public debate and influenced its outcome.