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Jeet ThayilIndia Abroad Correspondent in New York
Peter Bhatia, executive editor of The Oregonian, watched from Table 4 as his team picked up two Pulitzer prizes in journalism -- for public service and feature writing -- in the imposing library rotunda of Columbia University in New York on May 31.
Some 250 guests -- awardees, their colleagues and loved ones -- watched the prize-giving function, which followed an hour set aside for lunch.
The menu was: an appetizer of "supreme of little rainbow chevre and ricotta between grapefruit and avocado segments, honey vinaigrette"; an entree of "red snapper, with a papaya salsa with asparagus and saffron rice [vegetarian available upon request]"; a dessert of "trio of sorbets, raspberry, kiwi and lemon in a pool of melon coulis".
Louis Boccardi, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board, who made the welcoming remarks, opened the afternoon's proceedings in a jocular vein. "The Pulitzer Prize Board's rules are simple," he said. "If we don't like you, you don't win."
Boccardi said we live in an age when entertainment is news and news is entertainment and the audience cannot distinguish between the two. "The best writing has to be more stylish and compelling to stand out," he said.
George Ruff, president of Columbia University, then stepped to the podium to present the 2001 Pulitzer prizes. He quoted humorist Russel Baker, who said Pulitzer prize winners would all share the same phrase in the first paragraph of their obituaries. The phrase being, "Pulitzer Prize-winner..."
Ruff said there were no sealed envelopes at the Pulitzer ceremony. "You know who you are and we know who you are," he said. He pointed out that in Pulitzer tradition there were no speeches by the winners.
The central mission of the Pulitzer Prize was to honour the truth in an open environment, Ruff said. He repeated an old adage, "Show me a country where the newspapers are full of good news and I'll show you a country where the prisons are full of good people."
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