Susie Neilson

Susie Neilson is an investigative reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. Among other impacts, her work has triggered changes to police pursuit policies; a five-state probe into insurance issues affecting wildfire victims; and a California-wide ban on a debunked lie detector technology used to interrogate prisoners.

In 2026, she won the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for “Burned,” a series examining how insurance industry practices have failed California fire survivors. The previous year, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for “Fast and Fatal,” an investigation into deadly police chases. Other honors include the Hillman Prize, the Barlett and Steele Gold Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award and two Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Awards.