Brett Blackledge

Brett J. Blackledge (born 1963 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Birmingham News.

Blackledge earned his bachelor of arts in journalism at Louisiana State University in 1986 and took a job in New Orleans with the Associated Press. He later moved to AP bureaus in Jackson, Mississippi and Tulsa, Oklahoma before taking a job with The Journal Newspapers in the Washington D.C. area. As a reporter for Education Daily, Blackledge covered Federal government actions as they related to education.

In 1993 Blackledge became a local government reporter at the Mobile Register. In 1998 he moved to Birmingham to take a job at the News covering general assignments and special projects.

Blackledge's investigation into corruption in the Alabama two-year college system resulted in a string of front page articles beginning in April, 2006. For exposing the scandal was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting on April 16, 2007.

Representative articles

• Blackledge, Brett J. (May 7, 2006) "Relatives given jobs, other perks." Birmingham News.
• Blackledge, Brett J. (July 14, 2006) "Records show many officials have relatives within system." Birmingham News.
• Blackledge, Brett J. (October 8, 2006) "Dozens of legislators paid by two-year colleges." Birmingham News.