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NEW YORK — David Shaw of the Los Angeles Times was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism Tuesday for his stories of how the media covered the McMartin Pre-School child
molestation case.
The Washington Post and the New York Times won two prizes each and the Des Moines Register received the prestigious Pulitzer gold medal for public service for a story about a rape victim who
identified herself in print, prompting widespread reconsideration of the traditional media practice of concealing the identity of rape victims.
Novelist John Updike won his second Pulitzer, while playwright Neil Simon won his first. Updike won for his book “Rabbit at Rest” and Simon for his latest play “Lost in Yonkers” as the 75th
annual prizes for journalism, letters, drama and music were made public at Columbia University.
In awarding the prize to Shaw, the Pulitzer Prize Board noted that his media critiques of the McMartin case--which received nationwide attention--included scrutiny of The Times, his own
paper.
“I think this award is a tribute more toward the paper than to me as an individual,” said Shaw, 48, who joined The Times in 1968 and has served as media reporter since 1974. “The Times is
the only paper I know of that acknowledges its obligations to provide the kind of ongoing skeptical, critical scrutiny of itself and the industry that it gives to all other major
institutions in society.
“I particularly thank (former editor) Bill Thomas who had the vision and courage to create the job and who gave me the freedom to do it as I saw fit and (current editor) Shelby Coffey who
has continued that commitment and has urged me to find even more challenging, complex, controversial projects even though, like Bill, he knew The Times and he personally might sometimes come
out looking less than admirable.”
“David has handled the delicate job of examining the media’s role and effects with great skill and deserves great credit,” said Coffey. “So do Bill Thomas, who launched him on these projects
16 years ago, and the late John Brownell, who line-edited the winning series.”
The Pulitzer Prize board awarded Natalie Angier of the New York Times the beat reporting prize for her reports on a variety of scientific topics and the international reporting prize to
Serge Schmemann of the New York Times for his coverage of the reunification of Germany.
Caryle Murphy of the Washington Post shared the international reporting prize for her dispatches from occupied Kuwait, some of which she filed while hiding from Iraqi troops. Jim Hoagland of
the Post won the commentary award for what the Pulitzer judges said were “searching and prescient columns” on events leading up to the Persian Gulf War and on the political problems of
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
The spot news reporting prize went to the staff of the Miami Herald for stories profiling a local cult leader and his followers and their links to several Miami area murders.
Joseph T. Hallinan and Susan M. Headden of the Indianapolis Star received the investigative reporting prize for a series examining medical malpractice in Indiana while Susan C. Faludi of the
Wall Street Journal was given the explanatory journalism award for her report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway Stores Inc. that revealed the human cost of high finance.
Marjie Lundstrom and Rochelle Sharpe of the Gannett News Service received the prize for distinguished national reporting for articles disclosing that hundreds of child-abuse related deaths
go undetected each year as a result of errors by medical examiners.
The prize for a distinguished example of feature writing was awarded to Sheryl James of the St. Petersburg Times for what the judges called compelling stories about a mother who abandoned
her newborn child and how it affected her life and others.
Ron Casey, Harold Jackson and Joey Kennedy of the Birmingham, Ala., News shared the editorial writing prize for their campaign examining inequities in Alabama’s tax system and proposing
needed reforms.
In the photography categories, Greg Marinovich of the Associated Press won for a series of pictures showing supporters of the South African National Congress brutally murdering a man they
believed to be a Zulu spy. William Snyder of the Dallas Morning News received the feature photography prize for his photographs of ill and orphaned children living in subhuman conditions in
Romania.
The prize for editorial cartooning was given to Jim Borgman of the Cincinnati Enquirer. One of Borgman’s prize-winning cartoons showed Gorbachev standing next in a circle of toppling
dominoes.
News that Simon had won the Pulitzer Prize for drama leaked out on Monday when his publicist issued a press release announcing the prolific playwright had been awarded the honor for his
latest work “Lost in Yonkers”--the story of a strong-willed matriarch’s effects on her children.
The Pulitzer is the first that Simon has received in his 30-year career in the theater. He won a Tony Award for best play in 1985 for his play “Biloxi Blues.”
“I’m genuinely thrilled,” Simon said. “After a while, one tends to get blase about some things, but this is not one of them.”
Updike won the fiction prize for “Rabbit at Rest” which also was given the National Book Critics Circle Award this year. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for “Rabbit is Rich,” the third
installment in his four-book series about Harry (Rabbit) Angstrom. In “Rabbit at Rest,” Angstrom faces his death.
Updike is only the second author to win the Pulitzer fiction prize twice. Booth Tarkington won for “The Magnificent Ambersons” in 1919 and for “Alice Adams” three years later.
The nonfiction Pulitzer was awarded to Harvard professors Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson for “The Ants,” a comprehensive treatise about the insects Wilson has called “the little things
that run the world.” The book is designed to be an encyclopedic reference for researchers. In 1978, Wilson, the Frank B. Baird professor of science at Harvard, won the Pulitzer Prize for
his book “On Human Nature.” Holldobler is a biology professor at Harvard.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, won the history prize for “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary,
1785-1812.”
The prize for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author was awarded to Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith for their work “Jackson Pollock: An American Saga,” about
the life of the famous artist.
The Pulitzer for poetry was given to Mona Van Duyn for her volume “Near Changes.” Duyn founded “Perspective, a Quarterly of Literature,” with her husband in 1947, which she co-edited until
1970.
Shulamit Ran was awarded the music prize for his work “Symphony,” which had its premier on Oct. 19, 1990, by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The Pulitzer Prize Board made its recommendations when it met at Columbia University earlier in April. Each award carries a cash prize of $3,000 except public service, where a gold medal is
awarded.
* Public Service for Reporting: the Des Moines Register for articles by Jane Schorer on rape.
* Spot News Reporting: the Miami Herald staff for a series on a local cult killing.
* Investigative Reporting: Joseph T. Hallinan and Susan M. Headden of the Indianapolis Star for a series on medical malpractice.
* Explanatory Journalism: Susan C. Faludi of the Wall Street Journal for a report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway stores.
* Beat Reporting: science writer Natalie Angier of the New York Times.
* National Reporting: Marjie Lundstrom and Rochelle Sharpe of the Gannett News Service for reporting on child-abuse deaths.
* International Reporting: Caryle Murphy of the Washington Post and Serge Schmemann of the New York Times for stories from Kuwait and Germany.
* Feature Writing: Sheryl James of the St. Petersburg Times.
* Editorial Writing: Ron Casey, Harold Jackson and Joey Kennedy of the Birmingham, Ala., News.
* Editorial Cartooning: Jim Borgman of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
* Spot News Photography: Greg Marinovich of the Associated Press.
* Feature Photography: William Snyder of the Dallas Morning News.
* History: “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, based on her diary, 1785-1812” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
* Biography: “Jackson Pollock: An American Saga” by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.
* General Nonfiction: “The Ants” by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson.
