By: Dave Astor Unhappy that Leonard Pitts Jr. didn't win the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, the National Society of Newspapers Columnists this weekend unanimously voted to start a "Columnist of the Year" award -- and immediately made Pitts the first recipient.
The NSNC presented the honor to Pitts at its conference in (appropriately named) Pittsburgh. He was cited for "rallying the nation's sentiment with your stunning post-Sept. 11 column."
Pitts, who is with
The Miami Herald and Tribune Media Services, was deluged with about 30,000 e-mails praising the piece -- which eloquently stressed America's resolve after the terrorist attacks.
NSNC President Peter Rowe said it was an "injustice" that Pitts didn't win the commentary Pulitzer, which went to Thomas Friedman of
The New York Times.
Pitts, the keynote speaker at the June 20-23 conference, said writing a column has been an education. "I learned that I'm a bigot. I can't stand stupid people," he said, noting that he was referring not to those "who don't know any better," but rather to people who are "closed-minded, mean stupid."
He added that columnists and readers are entitled to their opinions, but should be able to explain how they arrived at them. "I'm less concerned with what we think than that we think," Pitts said.
Before becoming a general-interest columnist, Pitts spent 18 years writing about pop music. He recalled deciding to leave that branch of journalism after nearly being trampled by fans surging to the stage during a 1993 U2 concert.
But Pitts had already been tiring of that beat. "I spent nearly two decades interviewing Rod Stewart in his hotel suite and asking Mariah Carey to please tell me about her latest tour," he said -- and realized he no longer cared that much.
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