J School's Cuba Magazine is Pulitzer Finalist
By Travis Siebrass
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications magazine about Cuba is in the running for a Pulitzer Prize.
"Cuba An Elusive Truth" has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting by four different professional news organizations, Professor Joe Starita said.
The possibility of winning a Pulitzer Prize was "never on anybody's radar screen," during the project, Starita said.
"It's very rare for a college publication to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize," he said.
William Miller Sr., editor and publisher of the Missourian Publishing Co., wrote in his nomination letter to the Pulitzer Prize Board: "The students have produced the best reporting I have ever read on Cuba. Their work is exceptional, in my opinion, which is based on 50 years in the newspaper business, and from one who has traveled to more than 20 countries and reported on conditions in those nations."
Nominations go to a jury that pick five finalists and then the winner of the Pulitzer. That will be announced in April, Starita said.
The students spent eight days in January 2003 in Cuba gathering information for their stories. The 88-page full color magazine was published in June, he said.
Starita said about 15 students worked on the project. They did the reporting, editing, layout and design of the magazine.
Most of the students were enrolled in a yearlong special topics class, Starita said. The students spent the first semester learning about Cuba.
"By the time they got to Cuba they were combat ready," Starita said.
The students wrote their stories during the second semester, he said.
Dakarai Aarons, one of the students who worked on the project, wrote stories that detailed conditions in Cuba's political prisons, the political power that Cuban exiles wield in the United States, racism in Cuba and an editorial about his experience with racism in Cuba.
Aarons was surprised and pleased when he learned the series of stories had been nominated for the Pulitzer.
"It's validation of all the long hard hours everyone put into the project," he said.
Will Norton, dean of Journalism and Mass Communications, said the project continues the college's tradition of depth reporting that was started under Neale Copple.
"What gives me pride is the product they produced and how they did it," Norton said. "They went through all sorts of complexities and didn't whine or complain."
Starita said projects like the Cuba one give students the opportunity to expose themselves to real life journalistic experiences that can't be done in a classroom setting.
"If we can keep doing this type of thing," he said, "I feel our students will be better equipped to compete for top jobs than students from other colleges."
