Pulitzer Prizes

The following alums won Pulitzer Prizes individually or as part of reporting duos for which they were personally named: 

David Boardman (BSJ79) won in 2010 for Breaking News Reporting as the executive editor of The Seattle Times. His newspaper was awarded the Pulitzer for its coverage of the assassination of four police officers in Lakewood, Wash., and the subsequent manhunt for the killer. Boardman also directed two other Seattle Times projects that won Pulitzers: In 1990, the newspaper won the prize in National Reporting for its coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and in 1997, it won the prize in Investigative Reporting for series on fraud in the federal tribal-housing program.

Sarah Kaufman (MSJ88), Criticism,The Washington Post, won in 2010 for her imaginative approach to dance criticism, illuminating a range of issues and topics with provocative comments and original insights. 

David Barstow (BSJ86), Investigative Reporting, The New York Times, won in 2009 for his reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

Henry (Hank) Klibanoff (MSJ73) won in 2007 for History.
Peter Kai Bird (MSJ75), Biography, won in 2007 with Martin J. Sherwin American for “Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.”

James Risen (MSJ78), National Reporting,The New York Times, won with Eric Lichtblau in 2006 for their stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberty.Tom Philp (BSJ83), Editorial Writing, The Sacramento Bee, won in 2005 for his deeply researched editorials on reclaiming California's flooded Hetch Hetchy Valley that stirred action.

Mitchell Weiss (MSJ82) won in 2004 for Investigative Reporting for his work on a series for The Blade, Toledo, Ohio on atrocities by Tiger Force, an elite U.S. Army platoon, during the Vietnam War.

Stephen Hunter (BSJ68) won in 2003 for Criticism for his work as film critic for The Washington Post, making him only the second film critic to win this award, after Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1975.

 

Lisa Pollak (MSJ92) won in 1997 for Feature Writing for her Baltimore Sun portrait of a baseball umpire who endured the death of a son while knowing that another son suffers from the same deadly genetic disease.

 

Tina Rosenberg (MSJ82, S81) won in 1996 for General Non-Fiction (Letters) for her book, "The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism" (Random House, 1995).

 

Robert Bruce Dold (BSJ77, MSJ78) won in 1994 for Editorial Writing for his 10-part, year-long series that decried Illinois' child welfare system and particularly deplored the case of 3-year-old Joseph Wallace, who was murdered by his abusive mother. His work helped to spur a doubling of the number of Cook County judges hearing abuse and neglect cases and a tripling of the number of caseworkers working for the state Department of Children and Family Services.

 

Michael F. Toner (MSJ67) won in 1993 for Explanatory Journalism for his 20-part Atlanta Journal and Constitution series, "When Bugs Fight Back," on the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides.

 

Lois Jean Wille (BSJ53, MSJ54) won in 1989 for Editorial Writing, for her Chicago Tribune essays on a variety of local subjects.

 

Jeffrey R. Lyon (BSJ65) won in 1987 for Explanatory Journalism along with Chicago Tribune colleague Peter Gorner for their seven-part series called “Altered Fates: Gene Therapy and the Retooling of Human Life,” about gene therapy and its potentially revolutionary implications.

 

Stephen M. Twomey (BSJ73) won in 1987 for Feature Writing for his Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine article about spending three days board an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.

 

Mary Pat Flaherty (BSJ77) won in 1986 for Specialized Reporting along with colleague Andrew Schneiderfor their Pittsburgh Press series on trafficking in human organs for transplants.

 

Jack William Fuller (BSJ68) won in 1986 for Editorial Writing on such constitutional issues as the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion, the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and prayer in public schools.

 

Donal J. Henahan (BSJ48) won in 1986 for Criticism for his New York Times music reviews.

 

Jeffrey A. Marx (BSJ84) won in 1986 for Investigative Reporting along with colleague Michael M. York for their Lexington Herald-Leader series, "Playing Above the Rules," on cash payoffs to players for the University of Kentucky basketball team. The series prompted the University of Kentucky to tighten its rules on athletes and led to reexaminations of practices at universities around the country, while leading to death threats and more measured indignation directed at Marx, York and the newspaper.

 

Nan Robertson (BSJ48) won in 1983 for Feature Writing for her New York Times Sunday magazine cover article about Toxic Shock Syndrome, which nearly took her life and resulted in the amputation of each of her fingers to protect her body against gangrene.

 

Charles F. Neubauer (BSJ72, MSJ73) won in 1976 for Investigative Reporting, along with colleague George Bliss, for their series chronicling abuses in the local Federal Housing Administration mortgage lending program.

 

William Hugh Jones (MSJ65) won in 1971 for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting for his Chicago Tribune series on collusion between police and some of Chicago's largest private ambulance companies to restrict service in low-income areas. Jones' work led to the indictments of 16 people, including 10 police officers, and major reforms.

 

William James Eaton (BSJ51, MSJ52) won in 1970 for National Reporting for his Chicago Daily News investigation of Supreme Court nominee Clement Haynesworth Jr. Eaton chronicled a 1964 Haynesworth ruling in favor of a large textile company that did business with a vending machine company that the judge held stocks in, which he later sold for $450,000. The U.S. Senate rejected his nomination in November 1969.

 

Edgar May (BSJ57) won in 1961 for Local Reporting, No Edition Time for his Buffalo Evening News series, "The Costly Dilemma," on New York state public welfare services. May gained his newspaper's permission to work incognito in the Erie County Department of Social Welfare for three months to gain an understanding of those on welfare as part of reporting the series. The Erie County Department --whose then-Commissioner Paul F. Burke praised May for his objectivity -- undertook a 34-point reform program as a result, and May's series was distributed throughout New York and elsewhere.

 

 

The following alums were part of larger newsroom teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for their respective newspapers: 

 

Joann Lublin (BSJ70) won in 2003 for Explanatory Journalism, as management news editor for The Wall Street Journal, for her role as one of 17 reporters who contributed to the paper's coverage of corporate scandals.

 

Louise Kiernan (MSJ92) won in 2001 for Explanatory Journalism for writing the main, kickoff article for a four-part, Chicago Tribune series on a day in the life of the nation's air-traffic control system.

 

Robert Steinback (MSJ83), Don Finefrock (MSJ83) and Daniel de Vise (MSJ90) won in 2001 for Breaking News Reporting for their contributions to a team of more than 40 writers who covered the Elian Gonzalez seizure on April 23, 2000 for the Miami Herald.

 

Don Terry (MSJ80) and Ira Berkow (MSJ64) won in 2001 for National Reporting. Each wrote one of a 15-part series in The New York Times about race relations in America.

 

Lisa Getter (BSJ82) was a writer and reporter on the Miami Herald team that won the 1999 Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting for stories that revealed voter fraud in a city election. She also won in 1993 for Public Service as part of the Miami Herald’s team that investigated shoddy construction after Hurricane Andrew. Getter’s contribution to the entry included a feature about life after the storm in the hardest hit areas, as well as investigative stories that looked at the failure of the South Florida Building Code, the political influence of developers, the lack of inspections, lax zoning rules and the corrupt influences that allowed builders to cut corners in the years before the storm. She was twice a nominated Pulitzer finalist (in 1989 and 1998).

 

Beth Whitehouse (BSJ83), Adam Horvath (BSJ85), Celeste Hadrick (MSJ77) and Tim Drachlis (MSJ86) won in 1997 for Spot News Coverage, for their respective roles in covering the crash of Flight 800 on Long Island.

 

Jean Rutter (BSJ81, MSJ82) won in 1994 for Spot News Reporting, while graphics editor of The New York Times, as part of a very large team that chronicled the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

 

Larry Bleiberg (BSJ84) won in 1989 for General News Reporting as part of the reporting team on the staff of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal that covered the Carrollton, Ky., church bus crash that killed 27 people, still the nation's worst drunken-driving accident.

 

Melissa Johnson (BSJ81), Richard Reiff (BSJ74) and Douglas Oplinger (MSJ77) won in 1987 for General News Reporting for the Akron Beacon-Journal series about the attempted hostile takeover of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Oplinger won again in 1994 for Public Service for his contribution as managing editor for local news, for the paper's five-part series, "A Question of Color," which examined racial attitudes in the community.

 

Geraldine E. Baum (BSJ77) won in 1984 for Local General or Spot News Reporting for Newsday's coverage of the Baby Jane Doe case and its far-reaching social and political implications.

 

Victor Valle (MSJ81) won in 1984 for Public Service for the Los Angeles Times series, "Southern California's Latino Community," on the growth of that community.

 

Jan Schaffer (BSJ72, MSJ73) won in 1978 for Public Service as a member of the Philadelphia Inquirer for her three-part series on abuse of power by six homicide detectives who had beaten confessions out of witnesses to the fire-bombing of a house. The man accused of five murders in connection with the bombing was freed, and the six detectives were convicted of civil-rights violations.

 

James A. “Jay” Branegan (MSJ73) and Charles F. Neubauer (BSJ72, MSJ73) won in 1976 for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting for the Chicago Tribune's chronicling of "unsafe and unsound medical practices, filth, neglect of patients and abuses of welfare funds" at two Chicago hospitals, von Solbrig Memorial and Northeast Community, both of which were subsequently closed.

 

Gary Blonston (BSJ63, MSJ64) won in 1968 for Local General Spot News Reporting, for the Detroit Free Press' coverage of that city's race riots in 1967; and in 1990 for General News Reporting, for the San Jose Mercury News' coverage of the Oct. 17, 1989, Bay Area earthquake.

 

Lois Jean Wille helped the Chicago Daily News win in 1963 for Public Service thanks to an article she wrote calling attention to the issue of providing birth control services in public health programs.