Frank Main


Frank Main is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter from Chicago, Illinois.

Early life

Main was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in 1964. He grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Bishop Kelley High School in 1982. He then graduated from Emory University in Georgia. Eventually he went on to earn his master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Main writes for the Chicago Sun Times, focusing on crime and investigative stories.

Career

Main began his career with The Tulsa World in 1987. He later worked for the Baton Rouge State Times, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, and The Kentucky Post. He has reported from war zones in the Persian Gulf, Bosnia and Colombia. He also covered the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2011 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
Main is also an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University Chicago teaching Media Law.

Awards and recognition

Main won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting alongside Mark Konkol and John Kim for articles documenting violence in Chicago neighborhoods and the culture of silence that allows it to continue. The entry included two series that examined the same issue: how many assault and murder cases in Chicago go unsolved because victims, witnesses and neighbors refuse to cooperate with police. Main spent four months shadowing homicide detectives as they tried to solve the gang-related murder of a teenager only to be stymied by a "no-snitch" culture. The series showed "originality and community expertise," the judges said.
In 2017, Main won the APME national storytelling award for 'Life on a Ledge' which detailed a suicide he witnessed on the west side of Chicago. The piece explored the life, mental illness and eventual death of Kendra Smith.

Personal life

Main shuttles between downtown Chicago and rustic Michigan with his wife, Alice, a Near West Side-trained Italian chef.