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Monday, April 16, 2007
AJC’s Tucker, Klibanoff win Pulitzers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cynthia Tucker, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor, whose columns have inspired and enraged readers and public figures for more than 20 years, won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary on Monday.
AJC managing editor Hank Klibanoff also won a Pulitzer, for history, as co-author of “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation.”
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| Rich Addicks / AJC |
| Hank Klibanoff and Cynthia Tucker celebrate their Pulitzer Prizes in the newsroom of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. |
The third time was a charm for Tucker, 52, who was also a Pulitzer finalist in 2004 and 2006.
She was honored for writing passionately about voting rights, racial stereotypes, and African-American leaders who failed to live up to their potential.
In one column, she took on the topic of immigration from the perspective of a 7-year-old multi-ethnic niece who she described as “much like any other indulged child of the American middle class.”
“Call me biased,” Tucker wrote, “but I don’t get the impression she and her paternal kin are ruining the country.”
In a letter nominating Tucker, Julia Wallace, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, called her a “fearless voice of reason.”
Klibanoff, 58, won with Gene Roberts, 74, for their behind-the-headlines reconstruction of how the press covered and impacted the Civil Rights movement in the South.
More than a decade in the making, “The Race Beat” detailed the long unacknowledged role of the black press, as well as the often diverging coverage by white-run Southern newspapers and Northern media.
Klibanoff and Roberts, both native Southerners, go way back together. Roberts was executive editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer for 18 years and hired Klibanoff in 1982 as a reporter.
“It certainly gave me a perspective on our business,” Klibanoff said of researching the book. “In these days when down is up and up is down, it gave me a greater appreciation for the importance of the core values of our business. I believe deeply in the value of a skilled, trained, professional press.”
• Complete report on Pulitzer winners.
• Video: Celebration in the AJC newsroom.
• Audio slideshow: Hear Tucker talk about her mother’s influence
