Matter’s multi-part collaboration with ProPublica was named a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting this week. I worked on the story for over a year—as it takes a tremendous amount of work from an entire team to get this close to a Pulitzer. Here is some of what went into it. — April 2014 My first day on the job as Art Director of Matter, then Medium’s flagship publication, was almost exactly two years ago, on Wednesday, April 9th. The following Monday, my new Editor in Chief, Mark Lotto, forwarded me an email from joseph sexton at ProPublica, titled, “The Immodest Proposal.” It detailed…