When an ‘unknown’ wins the Pulitzer Prize

For years while working in this business, I would marvel at the annual journalism ritual known as the Pulitzer Prizes.

Tribune wins Pulitzer Prize for local news

Reasonable Doubt: A five-part series

Templar: Quote of the day, Pulitzer Prize

This yearly awarding of the top prize for journalism usually shook out something like this: The New York Times and Washington Post win their usual three or four awards; followed by a host of other papers in big cities winning one (Los Angeles, Chicago or Philadelphia maybe), followed by a few other token big city papers in middle America (say, Dallas) or somewhere else out West, like Portland.

Also thrown in the mix, it seemed, was that one smaller paper singled out for a great piece of work. It was as if the Pulitzer judges had to pick at least one smaller "unknown" to help send the message that indeed, it looked beyond the so-called important papers for good works of journalism.

On Monday, the Tribune became that "unknown."

We learned reporter Ryan Gabrielson and former reporter Paul Giblin had won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for local reporting. The award was given for the five-part series published in the Tribune last year titled “Reasonable Doubt.”

The series examined tactics used in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration enforcement roundups, and the impact caused by diverting resources to the effort.

More about that in a moment. Back to what happens when an "unknown" wins a prize.

In past years, whenever I'd read a story that talked about the prize winners, there would usually be some color about how champagne was popping right away, or folks were jumping on their desks.

When the news broke here Monday, the smiles were wide and, it seemed, frozen in place. Gabrielson circled the newsroom nervously, almost on the verge of tears. Several of us scrambled to call Giblin, who now works for the Arizona Guardian online state Capitol news service. When I reached Giblin, he sounded like he was going to pass out. "I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack," he said, apparently speaking to me from the hall outside a hearing he was covering.

Nobody jumped on tables. We were all shocked, but somewhat subdued. There is no way to rehearse for this.

As the day went on, and news spread, many of our former colleagues called, sent congratulatory e-mails or even dropped by the newsroom. By Tuesday afternoon, however, there was quite a celebration - many of our former colleagues returned to share in the honor. And yes, champagne was, indeed, popping. I was still trying to respond to all of the congratulatory e-mails that came my way. Calls for interviews came from around the nation.

But then, we got back to work.

It was lost on nobody here that this award - this compound modifier that never goes away, "Pulitzer Prize winning ..." - had arrived at a challenging time for us.

Just last week, Publisher Julie Moreno announced that by the middle of next month, the Tribune will be going from four to three days of print publication, while remaining a seven-day online local news source. The changes that have taken place at the Tribune since this series ran (we were a seven-day print product that still circulated in Tempe and Scottsdale last summer) have been part of a transition intended to keep us a viable local news source at a time when the industry is in transition and the economy is stuck in a deep recession.

The changes resulted in the loss of numerous jobs - including several talented journalists who were key members of the team that helped make "Reasonable Doubt" happen - Paul Giblin among them.

But then comes a Pulitzer. Talk about nice timing.

It's a shot in the arm that everyone here will gladly take and tout.

Which brings me back to the series itself, which you can still read at eastvalleytribune.com.

Publication of this series resulted in mixed reactions. Plenty of our readers commended us for being willing to take a hard look at what Arpaio has been doing.

Others were highly critical of our report, and continue to be to this day, suggesting that it showed we sympathized with those who violate immigration laws while somehow being "anti-Sheriff Arpaio." Others smell a left-wing conspiracy. (For the record, we are owned by Irvine, Calif.,-based Freedom Communications, which espouses a generally libertarian point of view on its opinion pages).

The sheriff's office itself was not pleased with our reporting, and to this day will frequently remind us of this. I personally have had many conversations with sheriff's officials about the series, not all of them cordial.

To his credit, however, Arpaio himself has not held a grudge with the Tribune, as far as I can tell. In the months since we published this series, the sheriff has, for the most part, continued to make himself accessible to our reporters for various stories, as have department spokesmen who are assigned to deal with the media. Information is passed along to us several times a week.

As the series gained national attention - including a national report that aired on PBS several weeks ago and hearings in Washington, D.C., about his enforcement - the sheriff, not surprisingly, has been more than happy to offer himself up to talk about his actions. He even appeared on the "Colbert Report" Monday night on Comedy Central, but seemed unaware when Colbert mentioned a local newspaper winning a Pulitzer for stories about him.

And that's OK by me. The sheriff has a job to do - and so do we.

As we go forward, the Tribune will proudly wear the title of Pulitzer Prize winner as a badge of honor that, more than anything, is a testimony of our commitment to local news and to you, our readers. It not only honors our past and the great work we have done, but reminds us of the work we continue to do today and the work that is yet to be done, for you, our readers and the communities we serve.