Tribune Columnist Schmich Wins Pulitzer Prize

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 16, 2012 9:17PM

Congratulations to Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary today.

The Pulitzer judging committee recognized Schmich's "wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city." Also in the running for the prize were the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof and Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times.

Schmich's Monday column, where she follows Gapers Block managing editor David Schalliol as he criss-crosses the city photographing buildings son to be demolished, is but one example of her column writing. Upon receiving the news she won the Pulitzer, Schmich said, "I feel so very lucky to have done this work for so long at this place. We are all so lucky."

This is the second consecutive year a Chicago newspaper has won the Pulitzer. Last year Sun-Times reporters Frank Main and Mark Konkol, and photographer John J. Kim, won the Pulitzer for their exhaustive series on 59 hours of violence that occurred between April 18 and April 20, 2008. During those 59 hours, 40 people were shot; seven died.