With the Minneapolis Star Tribune on life support in bankruptcy fighting for its very survival, it almost doesn't seem fair to indulge in our annual mockery of their on-going failure to capture the most sought after prize in their industry. Almost.
So without further ado, let's turn things over to our faithful correspondent Jim for this year's update:
For the nineteenth consecutive year, the Star Tribune has NOT won a Pulitzer Prize. They didn't even have a single finalist, although the online-only Politico did.
When I first started reporting, on the fact that the Star Tribune had not won a Pulitzer Prize since their first and only prize in 1990, I was afflicting the comfortable. Now, after five years of covering the Strib's Pulitzer futility accompanied by their sharp financial decline, I'm starting to feel like I am afflicting the afflicted. Fortunately, I am not a real journalist, so I have no problem with that.
The Strib's dwindling apologists are running low on excuses. Clearly it was not former editor Anders Gyllenhaal who was holding them down; his new paper, The Miami Herald, won a Pulitzer this year. Nor can the draught be blamed on the Strib's bankruptcy status: the Detroit Free Press has recently decreased home delivery to three days a week, yet they also won a Pulitzer this year.
Ah well, there is always next year--if they can stay in business that long.
In addition to the Detroit Free Press, three other newspapers have moved past the Star Tribune by winning a Pulitzer this year. They are: the Glen Falls (NY) Post-Star, The Las Vegas Sun, and The East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ)
(Previous years: (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008).
Here are the newspapers that are smaller than the Star Tribune that have somehow managed to win a Pulitzer Prize since 1990:
Miami Herald (9)
Portland Oregonian (5)
Sacramento Bee (4)
New Orleans Times-Picayune (4)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3)
Baltimore Sun (3)
Birmingham (Ala.) News (2)
Christian Science Monitor (2)
Hartford Courant (2)
Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader (2)
San Diego Union-Tribune (2)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (2)
Seattle Times (2)
Newark Star-Ledger (2)
Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
Albuquerque Journal
Asbury Park Press (Neptune N.J.)
Biloxi Sun Herald
Block Newspapers, Toledo, Ohio
Boston Phoenix
Cincinnati Enquirer
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Concord (N.H.) Monitor
Daily Tribune (Ames, Iowa)
Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
Des Moines Register
Detroit Free Press
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ)
Glen Falls (NY) Post-Star
Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald
Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune
Indianapolis Star
Investor's Business Daily
Kansas City Star
Las Vegas Sun
Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune
Los Angeles Weekly
Louisville Courier-Journal
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer
Orange County Register
Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Santa Rose (Calif.) Press Democrat
Providence Journal-Bulletin
Riverdale (N.Y.) Press
Rutland (Vt.) Herald
San Francisco Chronicle
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Toledo Blade
Village Voice
Virgin Island Daily News (St. Thomas)
White Plains (N.Y.) Journal News
Willamette Week (Portland)
The list grows and grows. One gets the sense the Strib's Pulitzer window is closing fast.
Speaking of the Strib, Vox Day has created a new blog called Kill the Strib:
While we appreciate comments from all vantage points, this site is totally a forum for political viewpoints. If you have a problem with the newspaper's content, we suggest that you post here the comment that was deleted at SavetheStrib.com. However, we are also looking for comments in defense of the Star Tribune, as we would very much like to point at you and laugh.
He asked us for our thoughts on whether the Strib should in fact die. Upon reflection, I realized that the Strib has been dead to me for some time. In last few years, I've come to view its fate with almost complete disinterest. I look upon its current thrashing in the water with a sense of detached amusement. When the Star Tribune finally does go down for the third and final time, I won't celebrate or mourn its passing, but merely make note of it. Oh, so it's finally over then, huh?
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