Cartoonist Steve Sack wins Pulitzer

The Star Tribune won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for local reporting and one for editorial cartooning.

Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson and Glenn Howatt won the reporting honor for a series on a spike in infant deaths in poorly regulated home day cares.

Steve Sack won the editorial cartooning award. Judges noted Sack's "diverse collection of cartoons, using an original style and clever ideas to drive home his unmistakable point of view." He's been the Star Tribune's editorial cartoonist since 1981 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2004.

Sack, who has drawn more than 7,800 cartoons for the paper in 32 years, said he had no idea he'd won until his editor, Scott Gillespie, stopped at his desk to break the news.

"I didn't believe him, I thought he was messing with me," Sack said as he clutched a bottle of champagne and greeted well-wishers.

"I've always been so proud of working for this newspaper," he added. "For something like this to happen, I feel like it's for all of us."

Both awards carry a $10,000 prize.

"I'm thrilled," said Nancy Barnes, the newsroom's editor and the paper's senior vice president. "Not just for the individuals who won, but also for the newsroom. We've been through a lot as a newsroom, and I'm just happy to see a few rewards come in, too."

The Pulitzers, journalism's highest honor, were announced Monday.

The New York Times won four Pulitzer Prizes, including the award for investigative reporting for stories that detailed how Wal-Mart used bribery to expand in Mexico.

The Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was awarded the public service Pulitzer for its reporting on off-duty police officers' reckless driving.

The Pulitzer in breaking news photography went to the Associated Press for its coverage of the civil war in Syria.

The Pulitzer in national reporting went to InsideClimate News in New York for stories on flawed regulation of the nation's oil pipelines.

The Pulitzer in national reporting went to InsideClimate News in New York for stories on flawed regulation of the nation's oil pipelines.

The Star Tribune has last won a Pulitzer in 1990. Reporters Lou Kilzer and Chris Ison won for investigative reporting in exposing a network of local citizens who had links to members of the St. Paul fire department and who profited from fires, including some described the fire department itself as of being of suspicious origin.

The paper also won in 1959 for photographer William Seaman's dramatic photograph of an accident scene where a 9-year-old boy was killed.

-------------

Richard Meryhew can be reached at richm@startribune.com