In the spring of 2004, Papajohn was the deputy projects editor at the Chicago Tribune . He started at the paper as a summer intern on the copy desk, in 1982, and remained there ever since. Before joining the Projects Team, he covered suburban news as well as street gang activity as a metro reporter.

Papajohn has since been named associate managing editor/investigations and consumer watchdog at the Tribune , and in 2007, directed the Tribune s Hidden Hazards project, which won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Listen to Papajohn talk about the rationale behind multi-part stories.