John Branch is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and writer who currently works at the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

,'' covering topics related to sports and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life and education

Branch was born on June 25, 1967, in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...

and raised in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Master of Arts degree in journalism, both from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

Career

After graduating from college, Branch worked for ''The Gazette'' in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

as a business reporter from 1996 to 1998, and a sports reporter from 1998 to 2002. He then worked as a sports columnist for ''

The Fresno Bee ''The Fresno Bee'' is a daily newspaper serving Fresno, California, and surrounding counties in that U.S. state's central San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and ranks fourth in circulation among the company's newspapers. I ...

'' from 2002 to 2005. He first joined ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2005. Branch won the

2013 Pulitzer Prize The 2013 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on April 15, 2013 by the Pulitzer Prize Board for work during the 2012 calendar year. Prizes There were 21 prizes awarded in three categories. Journalism Letters and drama ...

in Feature Writing for " Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek," a multimedia narrative on a deadly avalanche at

Stevens Pass Stevens Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass through the Cascade Range, Cascade Mountains located at the border of King County, Washington, King County and Chelan County, Washington, Chelan County in Washington (state), Washington, United States. ...

, and was a finalist in the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his series titled "Punched Out" about the death of ice hockey player

Derek Boogaard Derek Leendert Boogaard ( ; later ; June 23, 1982 – May 13, 2011) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). A native of Saskatchewan, w ...

. He authored a biography about Boogaard titled ''Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard'' which was released in 2014. It won the 2015

PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing The PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing was awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to honor "a nonfiction book about sports."New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

article by Branch called ''The Ride of Their Lives''. A collection of Branch's articles and personal essays is to be published in 2021 called ''Sidecountry: Tales of Death and Life from the Back Roads of Sports''. This collection will include the

winning feature " Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,".

Personal life

Branch is based in

Novato, California Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

References

External links

Times Topics
People from Redondo Beach, California The New York Times Pulitzer Prize winners The New York Times sportswriters University of Colorado Boulder alumni Living people Journalists from California Sportswriters from New York (state) Sportswriters from California 1967 births {{US-journalist-1960s-stub