The 2008 Pulitzers have been announced and the Washington Post won every category. Okay, not quite. But they did win the Public Service, Breaking News, National Reporting, International Reporting, Feature Writing and Commentary prizes.
So congratulations to them.
I looked over the list to see if any of the stories that won awards had been covered by us here at GetReligion. Alas, the easiest -- sometimes the only -- way to win a Pulitzer is to ride hard on some government program and force reforms. After day 47 of the Washington Post featuring stories about Blackwater on their first page, my husband deadpanned that he thought they might be going for a Pulitzer. And, well, it worked.
Anyway, the only winner that we covered was the winner of a Pulitzer in Explanatory Reporting:
Awarded to Amy Harmon of The New York Times for her striking examination of the dilemmas and ethical issues that accompany DNA testing, using human stories to sharpen her reports.
I analyzed two of her pieces and while I found the religious angles a bit too hidden, I thought her first story was "sensitive, sympathetic and well-written. For a technical story, it is remarkably human." And for another of the articles in the series, I wrote:
Again, major kudos to Harmon for exploring the ethical issues surrounding genetic testing. It takes courage to wade into the abortion debates. And it takes much more courage and skill to engage philosophy, ethics and politics in one fell swoop. Harmon managed the task well and was very thorough and fair to the various pro-choice viewpoints engaged in debate.
So major kudos to Amy Harmon and her work on the ethical dilemmas surrounding genetic testing.