"I'm devastated and sad my [Pulitzer] dream has been stolen."

Points I agree with here: It's time for the Pulitzers to evolve and include people writing for on-line outlets. It's disappointing that many of the same voices are "rewarded" in the APSE stuff ever year. Repeatedly celebrating Mr. Albom's oeuvre is disappointing.

If Jason Whitlock feels his work is Pulitzer-worthy, I see no harm in letting him compete for it.

I will let others debate the rest.

http://bsudaily.com/Content/Default/What-s-New/Article/Jason-Whitlock-fires-back-at-Pulitzer-for-denying-his-entry-into-journalistic-competition/-3/9/34744

 

This thread could go in so many directions ...

FTR, I agree online writing should be considered.

 

The "I shook the Midwest ..." line is just hanging there.

 

What do you do about magazines that update their Web site regularly? Is The New Yorker now eligible for feature-writing, for example? Or Esquire? Is The New Republic eligible for commentary? Seems like the only thing that separates these publications from, say, Slate, is that they actually do put resources into a print product. Should they be punished for that? The line between a daily and a weekly publication is pretty blurred in 2013 anyway. Is there something else that separates Slate from Time or The New Yorker or Rolling Stone that would make Slate or Politico eligible but not Mother Jones?

 

Considering many of the best writers in the country work for websites, instead of newspapers, the policy is pretty idiotic.

 

I think there is an antiquated notion that Web sites don't dedicate the resources to journalism that newspapers do. That they are less committed. I remember a lot of Rivals sites couldn't get credentialed for a while without a corresponding print publication.

 

I agree the Pulitzers should evolve.

That said, why in blue hell is Whitlock writing that junk as a guest column for the Ball State student paper? Does he think students give a shit some old guy can't win some award?

 

Let the internet create its own hierarchy of awards. As it will inevitably do. Within which it will reward monthly magazines with great daily websites, like the Atlantic, and great daily websites that occasionally publish long features, like Deadspin.

The National Magazine Awards and the Pulitzer Prizes cover most of the rest of that ground.

And not to defend Mr. Whitlock, but let's all try to remember he favors exaggeration and hyperbole as comic techniques.

 

The lines are starting to feel really arbitrary, though.

 

Some lucky wife of a white newspaper sportswriter is going to feel an average number of inches of pain tonight.

 

I don't see Whitlock begging or pleading for anything. (Insert food joke).

But seriously, there's no reason the rules shouldn't be changed.

 

"the APSE prefers storytellers. Its awards also consistently reflect the anti-minority-perspective bias pervasive throughout the sportswriting industry. Sportswriting is a good-old-boy network. It’s very difficult — perhaps impossible — for a person of color who writes from a minority perspective to be recognized as the best at anything in sportswriting. "