Larry Craig Coverage Makes Statesman a Pulitzer Finalist

By Jill Kuraitis, 4-07-08

	Caption: Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman doing his job at the first Larry Craig press conference in Boise, August 27, 2007

Newsrooms aren’t usually party palaces, but cake and champagne graced the desks today at the Idaho Statesman in Boise.

For the first time in its 141-year history, the Statesman was named a 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist. In the category of Breaking News Reporting, their coverage of the Larry Craig scandal that began with his arrest and guilty plea in an airport restroom last August landed them the honor.

Longtime Statesman reporter and columnist Dan Popkey was the lead investigator and writer for the breaking coverage, with assistance from Rocky Barker, Bill Roberts, Erika Bolstad and Greg Hahn.  In follow-up stories, Katy Moeller, Heath Druzin, Cynthia Sewell and photographer Joe Jaszewski also reported.

The final prize was awarded to the Washington Post for its coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

The Pulitzers have been awarded since 1917 to reward excellent journalism. Prizes are also awarded to novelists, poets, historians, biographers and more.

The prizes are awarded by the president of Columbia University in New York City, and housed in that college’s School of Journalism. But journalism professionals and others help judge the entries, and the Pulitzer board determines the winners and finalists.