Pride of the Prize: Alumni receive Pulitzer Prize wins, nods
E. Jason Wambsgans was editing photos and video Monday at the Chicago Tribune when a coworker told him he won.
“Won what?” Wambsgans responded.
The coworker then informed Wambsgans that he received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
Wambsgans’ work was submitted by the Tribune for the Prize five-to-six times before. When Pulitzer winners were announced, the Central Michigan University alumnus had forgotten his work was entered. Monday’s win was a blunt moment of shock for Wambsgans.
“I didn’t believe it for a minute or two,” Wambsgans said. “Then it was just a crazy swirl of emotions — terror, shock, elation — everything at once. I came out and the entire newsroom was cheering. It was definitely overwhelming.”
CM Life alumnus David Harris discusses covering Orlando shooting
When he first arrived at the crime scene, Orlando Sentinel reporter David Harris knew at least 20 people were dead.
A few hours later at a press conference, the Central Michigan University alumnus learned the death toll had doubled.
On June 12, Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, was the scene of the largest mass-shooting in United States history.
Wambsgans is one of four Central Michigan Life alumni nominated for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize awards. He won in the Feature Photograph category. Wambsgans won for his photos of Tavon Tanner, 11, after he survived a shooting in Chicago last August. His photos capture the relationship between Tavon and his mother, Mellanie Washington.
Karen Johnson, a Central Michigan Life editor-in-chief from 1993-94, contributed to a victory in the Explanatory Reporting category as a member of McClatchey Washington Bureau.
Jake May, a former Central Michigan Life editor-in-chief, was a finalist in the Feature Photography category for his photos depicting the Flint water crisis for the Flint Journal.
David Harris, another former Central Michigan Life editor-in-chief, and the staff of the Orlando Sentinel were finalists for the Breaking News Reporting category for their coverage of the Pulse Nightclub shooting last June.
For the past four years, Wambsgans has been documenting violence in Chicago. Last spring, he covered children suffering, after 24 children ages 12 and younger were shot in the Windy City.
Wambsgans found Tavon, whom he described as shy but “strikingly beautiful” and “incredibly expressive.”
Wambgans, a Detroit-area native, has worked at the Tribune since 2002. He worked as a Central Michigan Life photographer in the mid-1990s, with Johnson as his former editor-in-chief at the time. He remembers Johnson as being a “real journalist” and he was far from it.
“(Johnson) would try and encourage me,” he said. “I distinctly remember her asking me, ‘Are you going work for a newspaper?’ I remember saying, ‘I will never work for a newspaper.’
“That’s amazing (that she won a Pulitzer as well). I had no idea she won. That’s really funny.”
Johnson was part of the McClatchey and Miami Herald International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team that won the Explanatory Reporting category for the Panama Papers. There were 300 reporters on six continents that sought to “expose the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens,” the Pulitzer Prize website states. Johnson now works as a writer at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business.
Johnson was a news editor at McClatchey during the Panama Papers data leak and edited the final stories. She said the pursuit of truth and craft of journalism is more important today than ever, and applauds her colleagues at McClatchey that uncovered the truth.
“There was a ton of camaraderie and excitement,” Johnson said. “It would have been a let down if we hadn’t gotten it, but at the same time I think this group was committed to celebrating that they did some meaningful journalism together, and they continue to as well. It’s fun to be part of that enthusiasm.”
Jake May, chief photojournalist at the Flint Journal and MLive, was named a finalist for his photos chronicling the Flint water crisis.
The Flint water crisis began in 2014 when Flint switched its water source from treated Detroit water to the Flint River. Many residents suffered lead poisoning after it leached lead from pipes into the drinking water.
May said while he is humbled to be a finalist for a Pulitzer, it is about the people of Flint who are still living through the crisis. He praised his colleagues at the Flint Journal for telling these stories from all angles. May said he is happy to be a neighbor and member of the community.
May said CMU has one of the best photojournalism departments in the nation. He said is not surprised that CMU’s journalism department produced four Pulitzer honorees this year.
“In an era where some people call fake news, all four of these are what hard work, dedication and true heart in your community can portray,” May said. “I know each and every person that comes through the program can do just that. You just have to step up to the plate, do the work, boots on the ground and never stop.”
Harris preceded May as editor-in-chief at Central Michigan Life and the two worked together at the Flint Journal before Harris moved to Orlando. He said the Pulitzer helps put the ongoing crisis in Flint back in the limelight and is a reminder of the terrorist attack at Pulse last June.
“If you would have told me that when I started at CMU in the fall of 2003 that I’d be on a staff that would be a finalist for a Pulitzer, I would have laughed,” Harris said. “To be able to share it with my colleagues and friends at the Sentinel and to be in the same year as Jake and the other CMU people makes it even better.”
