In January, the Greenbelt News Review submitted an entry for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. We have no history of self-promoting behavior and can scarcely be accused of operating on a global scale, but it seemed worth a try. The Pulitzer folks were generous in answering our neophyte questions and even letting us have a second crack at the submission when we did it wrong the first time. We thank them for their help and all those at the paper who contributed time and effort to putting together an intriguing, if unsuccessful, submission.
April 18 was the long-awaited announcement of the 2016 prizes. The News Review is unabashed to announce that we didn’t win. Yup, didn’t even make the finals.
If you’re thinking sour grapes, not at all – quite the contrary. The winning submission – a first-rate group of stories from the Associated Press (AP) about thousands of people held as slaves in Thailand to harvest seafood for export to the U.S. – makes us deeply grateful that Greenbelt doesn’t provide the depth of corruption, depravity, human misery and exploitation that would make the cut. We applaud AP for devoting its resources and the reporters who risked their lives to address this evil. They are made of stern stuff.
We submitted our application on the basis that sustaining a healthy community newspaper is a high form of public service. By shining a gentle but consistent light on government and the community, week after week and year after year, we prevent the kinds of excesses and abuses that result in dramatic reporting. We build a strong community. Prevention isn’t dramatic and doing the right thing in our mostly unheralded way doesn’t result in poignant photography and heartbreaking stories. And that’s fine with us.
Our entry was, however, an important statement of belief. And though we didn’t win a Pulitzer, every day is a win when you wake up in a community which is safe, generous in spirit and conducts itself with honesty and principle.