Pulitzer 2.0

The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday and while the New York Times was the heavy with five category wins, the amalgamation of old media and new was in the Pulitzer spotlight for the first time. The St. Petersburg Times captured the "National Reporting" prize in part for its innovative website, PolitiFact.com, which covered the truthiness of the 2008 presidential campaign.

The East Valley Tribune's print and online reporting was cited in that paper's award for "Local Reporting." Ironically, the award comes as the Arizona Trib is scaling back print operations. One of the winning writers, Paul Giblin, was fired in January as the newspaper switched to free-circulation. Giblin promptly co-founded an online news site, The Arizona Guardian. I don't think he'll have a problem keeping steady work now that he can add a Pulitzer to his resume. At least I hope not, because if we have to depend on bloggers for this kind of journalism... well, we're screwed.

Be sure to check out all the prizes for journalism, letters, drama, and music. No Palmetto State winners, but Shadrick Johnson and the Columbia Convention Center were featured in one of Damon Winter's photographs awarded the "Feature Photography" prize.