PITTSBURGH - Brian O'Neill of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, widely credited with leading the charge to undo the state legislators' illegal pay grab last year, was awarded the third Pulitzer Prize in the history of the newspaper today for his column about The Carbolic Smoke Ball titled "One of America's great Web sites," which appears in today's Post-Gazette on page A-2. O'Neill won in the category of Public Service and Breaking News Reporting.The Pulitzer Prize Board broke with tradition and issued a laudatory statement declaring O'Neill's column "quite possibly the greatest, most insightful column ever written on American soil."
The Block family, owners of the Post-Gazette, issued a congratulatory statement, of sorts: "All Post-Gazette writers are expected to achieve, on a daily basis, quality in their work warranting a Pulitzer Prize. The Blocks do not think it appropriate to utilize this happy occasion to publicly comment on the chronic absence of such quality in the work of certain nameless writers of this paper. Rather, we will reserve such criticisms for widespread dissemination in publications such as The City Paper. Nevertheless, in recognition of Mr. O'Neill's achievement, we are pleased to award him a brand new bicycle. The Blocks are grateful that O'Neill eschews driving a car to work since a bicycle is more in keeping with the current financial state of the paper."
O'Neill beat out the New York Times for its reporting on the Darfur crisis and, ironically, the Post-Gazette's own Barbara Cloud for her August 6th column, "Memories of past columns reminiscing about miserable events in bygone days."
