Pulitzer Prize Board keeps information regarding Duranty review under tight wraps

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The Pulitzer Prize Board, under pressure from an international campaign asking to revoke a 1932 award, has kept information regarding a Pulitzer Board subcommittee review of the award given to The New York Times' Walter Duranty locked tightly behind closed doors.

"I am not going to get into confidential proceedings of an internal review," said Sig Gissler, administrator for the Pulitzer Prizes, during a June 20 telephone interview with The Ukrainian Weekly, which sought to find further details regarding the subcommittee. Nor would the administrator say when a decision on Mr. Duranty's prize could be expected.

Mr. Gissler said that "some complaints" had caused the Pulitzer Board to create a subcommittee, which was done very quietly in April. He added that the bulk of the thousands of complaints came after the subcommittee was created.

When asked what spurred the Pulitzer Board to create a subcommittee if the bulk of the thousands of complaints came after the subcommittee was formed, Mr. Gissler repeated that he would not comment on the matter because "the work of the board is confidential and the review is internal."

The only statement released regarding the matter came on June 10 (see full text on page 4). In that statement Mr. Gissler acknowledges that complaints regarding Mr. Duranty's Pulitzer Prize have "arisen from time to time. ... However, the board is aware of the most recent complaints and, like any significant complaint, we take them seriously. They are under review by a Board subcommittee and all aspects and ramifications will be considered."

Mr. Gissler went on to say in that statement that Mr. Duranty won the Pulitzer for an explicit set of stories in 1931 and "that a prize in a particular Pulitzer category is not meant to say anything about a winner's body of work over time."

However, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, director of research at the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), said that by using that argument Mr. Gissler and the Pulitzer Board are hiding from the issue and are not willing to make a difficult decision.

Dr. Luciuk said he sees a difference of playing by "the rules of the game vs. the spirit of the law." He said that Mr. Gissler's statement saying that the 1932 prize to Mr. Duranty was given for an explicit set of stories "undermines the very essence of what the Pulitzer Prizes is all about."

Other than Mr. Gissler's statement on June 10, the Pulitzer Prize Board has made no announcements regarding its review of Mr. Duranty's prize or the work of the subcommittee. Mr. Gissler did say that since he last spoke with The Weekly on May 20 the subcommittee had made no public announcements.

The Weekly also attempted to clarify some of the details surrounding the subcommittee with a list of questions sent in an e-mail on June 17 to Mr. Gissler. He responded by saying that it is a very busy time and that "it is inappropriate to go into further details at this point."

Mr. Gissler did confirm in his reply to that e-mail that to the best of his knowledge the current subcommittee review is only the second time the board has "reviewed similar complaints about Mr. Duranty's award." The first review came in 1990 and "the board gave extensive consideration to requests for revocation of the prize," his response reads.

The board decided "unanimously against withdrawing a prize awarded in a different era and under different circumstances," Mr. Gissler's June 10 statement reads.

Contacted by telephone, Mr. Gissler said he was very busy; he would not clear up what the subcommittee had been tasked with, who sits on the subcommittee or when the public could expect a decision in the matter.

The UCCLA, which initiated the postcard campaign, asked in an e-mail to meet with members of the Pulitzer Board but, as of June 23, has not received a reply.

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America also asked to meet with the Pulitzer Board. Mr. Gissler responded to the UCCA request in a letter on June 16, saying: "As a long-standing practice, the board does not meet with groups lobbying the board on an issue."

Pulitzer Prize administrator issues statement to the press

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 29, 2003, No. 26, Vol. LXXI

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