A reader told me a few days ago that she got a fourth-hand email that referenced the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. Someone from outside the state had flagged to her attention that it looked like an Eagle editor had been on a selection jury, and she didn’t think that could be true. It is. In 2007 and 2008 I had the honor of being invited to serve on a nominating jury for the prizes.
The administrator for the prizes works to put together nominating juries that are diverse in geography, newspaper size, company ownership, etc. Jurors spend three days in March working at Columbia University in New York. I learned upon reporting for duty on the first morning which category’s jury I would serve on (this year it was local news reporting; last year was commentary). The number of entries varies by category — for the categories I read each year, there were a large number of entries, so we worked some long hours to get finished on time.
Juries narrow the field to three finalists and submit those to the Pulitzer Board, which chooses the winner in April. It was a great honor to be invited, and a humbling and inspiring experience to spend long days reading the best journalism in the country.
You can find a list of all jurors at the Pulitzer site by clicking on the 2008 winners link, then scrolling to the bottom for the link on nominating jurors.