ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s Department of Communication Studies has named its annual winners of the Morgan O’Leary Award for Excellence in Political Reporting.

The winners are Richard Willing, Washington correspondent for the Detroit News and author of ” Coleman Young: The Unauthorized Biography,” and former Detroit News reporters Eric Freedman and Jim Mitzelfeld, who were awarded the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for their series of investigative articles on the misuse of more than $1.8 million in taxpayer dollars by the economic forecasting arm of the Michigan legislature.

The award is named in memory of O’Leary, director of public relations for the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee and former Detroit News reporter, who was killed in a plane accident in 1971.