Gellman wins Pulitzer Prize for team coverage of war on terrorism

The Pulitzer Prize for national reporting was awarded Monday to a team of eight Washington Post reporters that includes Barton Gellman. Gellman is a member of Princeton's class of 1982 and is a Ferris Professor of Journalism at the Council of the Humanities .

The 86th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced by President George Rupp of Columbia University. The national reporting award was given to the team for its "comprehensive coverage of America's war on terrorism, which regularly brought forth new information together with skilled analysis of unfolding developments."

Gellman's prize-winning article, "U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts to Capture Bin Laden or Have Him Killed" , appeared Oct. 3.

Each year, eminent journalists teach at Princeton's Council of the Humanities, joining a roster that includes many of America's most distinguished writers. Gellman, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the Washington Post, has also covered the Pentagon. The author of works about George Kennan, Bill Bradley and AIDS, he is teaching "The Literature of Fact" this semester.

Gellman is due to give a talk at the Woodrow Wilson School on Tuesday, April 23. The talk begins at 4:30 p.m. in Bowl 1, Robertson Hall, where he will discuss "The War on Terror Before September 11: What Were Clinton and Bush Doing?"

Additionally, Dael Orlandersmith and David Rakowski were named Pulitzer Prize finalists Monday.

Orlandersmith, a playwright and actress, was named a finalist in the drama category for her play "Yellowman." The play, which was commissioned by Princeton's McCarter Theater in 1999, premiered on campus in January.

Rakowski, a graduate alumnus, was named a finalist in the music category. His "Ten of a Kind (Symphony No. 2)" premiered May 2001 at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601