The New York Times has won the 2024 Innovative Storytelling Award from the National Press Foundation for its hour-by-hour reconstruction of the Lahaina fire on Maui.

The feature was created by Mike Baker, Malika Khurana, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Riley Mellen, Natalie Reneau, Bedel Saget, Elena Shao, Anjali Singhvi and Charlie Smart.

To create “Inside the Deadly Maui Inferno, Hour-by-Hour,” the Times obtained videos from survivors and social media posts to reconstruct the timeline of the wildfire’s path. Reporters used metadata to identify the time and location of each video and then placed each video on a 3-D map .

NPF judges said the story showcased the best of innovative journalism by applying a breadth of technology to create a multi-dimensional digital story that carefully explained in acute detail how the tragedy unfolded.

“A year ago, people around the world struggled to fathom how a spark from a downed electrical line quickly became the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century,” said judge Heather Dahl. “In the aftermath of the disaster, The New York Times examined hundreds of videos from that day, interviewed dozens of people and analyzed 911 calls, weather models, traffic data and evacuation alerts to document what was the result of a cascade of failures by officials. The result is a story which explains the unfathomable and holds authorities accountable for their actions that resulted in that horrific day, while showcasing the heroic actions of those who will always be remembered as ‘Maui Strong.'”

The winning team accepted the award at NPF’s 50th Anniversary Awards Dinner on Feb. 20 in Washington, D.C.

The Innovative Storytelling Award was created in 2015 to recognize digital journalism of the highest quality that reinvents the way stories are told. Judges take into consideration originality, how delivery vehicles enhanced the audience’s understanding of the underlying journalism and creativity in applying tools or technologies.