Newspaper gives USD 5,000 of Pulitzer Prize money to benefit child

The Cincinnati Enquirer is donating USD 5,000 of its 2018 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting to benefit a little girl featured in the newspaper's winning report on heroin.

The Enquirer reports the money will be the first deposit in a fund to assist Elliana Russ. The then-8-month-old child and her mother, Stephanie Gaffney, were featured in the newspaper's "Seven Days of Heroin" report in July.

Twenty-eight-year-old Gaffney died of an overdose of a fentanyl combination 10 days after speaking with the newspaper for the story. Enquirer Editor Beryl Love said the news organization thought it "only right" to use a portion of its USD 15,000 prize money to help her daughter.

A Hamilton County judge later granted custody of Elliana to Gaffney's mother and her husband.