Three COM alumni snag Pulitzer Prizes

Monday was a good day for three COM alumni, who took each home the most celebrated award in journalism — the Pulitzer prize.

Jessica Rinaldi (’01) of the Boston Globe won the feature photography prize for “The Life and Times of Strider Wolf,” a kindergartner born to poverty in rural Maine and nearly beaten to death at age two by his mother’s boyfriend. Strider’s grandparents took him in, but wound up homeless while caring for him and his brother, forcing the family to move from one campsite to another. Rinaldi’s three dozen photographs accompanied the story by Globe reporter Sarah Schweitzer.

Tyler Hicks (’92) of the New York Times worked on a Times–Thomson Reuters team that won for breaking news photography. His image of migrants wading ashore on the island of Lesbos, Greece, was part of a searing package depicting the ongoing crisis of refugees fleeing to, and awaiting help in, Europe. It was the third Pulitzer for Hicks.

Kimbriell Kelly (’98) shared a byline in the Washington Post series that explored killings by police officers in 2015. The idea began when the paper discovered that no official database for fatal shootings of civilians by officers exists; 70 staffers from multiple departments assembled the database and compiled stories, photos, data, graphics, and videos about trends revealed by the information. The Post has continued to update its database during 2016.

“We in COM couldn’t be more proud of the work done in the past year by Tyler, Jessica, and Kimbriell,” says Thomas Fiedler, dean of COM. “They also honor us with their achievement, because there is no greater compliment to—or endorsement for—any journalism program than for Pulitzer Prizes to be awarded to its graduates.”