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Re: Pulitzers
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Jim Thomsen
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Apr 18, 2006 09:23 PDT
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Do awards really matter to us? Not to denigrate the fine work of the winners, but it seemed that this year's Pulitzers were produced by political considerations rather than pure merit. Which, depends on who you listen to, may pretty well be the case with all major awards out there.
Jeff Pierron <jpie-@copydesk.org> wrote: ACES congratulates national board member Paula Devlin, conference
keynote speaker James O'Byrne and the copy editors of New Orleans and
Biloxi on three Pulitzer Prizes awarded Monday to the staffs of the
Times-Picayune and Sun Herald for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
Visit http://www.copydesk.org to read about how the two copy desks coped
with the storm and helped keep their papers publishing. More information
about the Pulitzers is available from http://www.pulitzer.org and in the
AP story below.
Jeff Pierron,
ACES secretary,
on behalf of the Executive Committee
{BC-Pulitzers, 5th Ld-Writethru,0973}
{Two Gulf Coast newspapers win Pulitzer Prize for putting out the} news
after Hurricane Katrina
{Eds: UPDATES with Times-Picayune reaction. Moving on general news} and
financial services.
{By DEEPTI HAJELA}=
{Associated Press Writer}=
NEW YORK (AP) – The Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Sun Herald
of Gulfport, Miss., each won the Pulitzer Prize for public service
Monday for their dauntless coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its
aftermath.
The Times-Picayune also received the Pulitzer in breaking news
reporting for its storm coverage.
The Washington Post won four awards in all, followed by The New York
Times, with three. The Rocky Mountain News, like The Times-Picayune, won
two.
„We never missed a day of publication and that‚s a testament to
everybody in this room,‰ said Ricky Mathews, The Sun Herald‚s president
and publisher. „We will arise from this terrible situation,‰ he added.
„I think our best journalism is still ahead of us.‰
Executive Editor Stan Tiner dedicated the Pulitzer to the residents
of southern Mississippi „whose magnificent hearts and spirit moved us
every day that we have been privileged to tell the story of their
struggle and triumphs.‰
„They will not be defeated – not by Katrina nor anything,‰ he added.
The Times-Picayune newsroom in New Orleans erupted in applause at the
news of winning two Pulitzers, but there was no champagne.
„It was a national tragedy,‰ said Peter Kovacs, managing editor for
news. „It would not be appropriate to have champagne because of the
nature of the event.‰
As reporters quietly sobbed, Editor in Chief Jim Amoss stood on a
newsroom table and said: „As our city was being ravaged and our citizens
were dying ... as all these things happened, we came together as a team
and fulfilled a mission that is sacred to us.‰
Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith of the Post
received the award for investigative reporting for their stories on the
Jack Abramoff scandal.
David Finkel of the Post won the prize for explanatory reporting for
writing about the U.S. government‚s attempt to bring democracy to Yemen.
The Post‚s Dana Priest was honored in the beat reporting category for
stories on secret prisons and the government‚s counterterrorism
campaign.
James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the Times and the staffs of the San
Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service won the award for national
reporting – The Times for stories on the Bush administration‚s domestic
eavesdropping, the Union-Tribune and Copley for disclosing the
bribe-taking that sent former Rep. Randy „Duke‰ Cunningham to prison in
disgrace.
Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley of the Times won the award for
international reporting for coverage of China‚s legal system.
Jim Sheeler of the Rocky Mountain News was honored for feature
writing for his story on a Marine major who helps families of comrades
killed in Iraq cope with their loss. The newspaper‚s Todd Heisler
received the prize for feature photography for his accompanying pictures
in a package called „Final Salute.‰
The Pulitzer for commentary went to Nicholas D. Kristof of the Times
for focusing attention on genocide in Darfur.
Robin Givhan of the Post received the Pulitzer for criticism for her
fashion coverage.
Rick Attig and Doug Bates of The Oregonian of Portland, Ore., won the
award for editorial writing for writing on abuse inside a mental
hospital.
The prize for editorial cartooning went to Mike Luckovich of The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Dallas Morning News won in the breaking news photography category
for its coverage of Katrina.
Like their communities, The Sun Herald and The Times-Picayune in New
Orleans took a beating from Katrina. Their buildings were damaged,
advertisers and subscribers were displaced, and circulation dropped.
The Sun Herald, whose offices are less than a mile from the
Mississippi Sound, never missed an edition during the crisis. Before the
storm hit, the Knight Ridder-owned publication arranged to have the
newspaper printed at a sister paper in Columbus, Ga., and then shipped
back to Mississippi.
To ensure delivery back home, the entire staff pitched in and handed
it out free at tents, damaged homes, shelters and elsewhere.
In the first days after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, The Times-Picayune
was published only online. The first printed editions came Sept. 2 and
were published through an arrangement with The Courier, the newspaper in
Houma, La., owned by The New York Times Co.
The Times-Picayune evacuated about 240 employees in the back of
newspaper delivery trucks as water from a levee breach rose around the
plant, located in the central part of the city. For many staffers who
remained, reporting on the breaches that eventually flooded the city was
horrifying because they saw the disaster unfold in their own
neighborhoods.
The paper has regained about two-thirds of its pre-storm circulation,
which was 260,000 on weekdays and 285,000 on Sunday.
For the first time, applicants in all categories were allowed to
include material published online as part of their entries.
The Pulitzer for public service carries a prize of a gold medal. The
other prizes come with cash awards of $10,000.
The awards are given by Columbia University on the recommendation of
the 18-member Pulitzer board.
The Pulitzers were created under the terms of the will of newspaper
publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911. He endowed the journalism
school at Columbia, and dictated that money be set aside for the prizes.
The first awards were handed out in 1917.
{–––}=
On the Net:
http://www.pulitzer.org
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