PULITZER PRIZE WINNER TO VISIT NEW PALTZ

NEW PALTZ — Alex Storozynski, a SUNY New Paltz graduate who won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism last April, will visit the New Paltz campus and speak with students on Monday, October 25, at 3:30 p.m. in the Faculty Tower Room 1000.

Storozynski, who graduated in 1983, won journalism’s top prize for editorials he helped write for the New York Daily News, which is one of the largest circulation newspapers in the world. The award was for 10 editorials that appeared in the News between April and December of 1998. The Pulitzer Prize is the top award in American journalism.

The editorials were about attempts to save the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City. The News’ editorials alerted officials to irregularities in the theater’s finances and urged the government to clean up the theater’s administration. All the while, the News was suggesting ways that the historic theater could be saved.

The Pulitzer board of directors cited the News “for its effective campaign to rescue Harlem’s Apollo Theater from the financial mismanagement that threatened the landmark’s survival.”

Robert Miraldi of the college’s Journalism Program commented: “The News’ editorials show the power of combining fact, expose and opinion. They show what reporting and advocacy can do to influence government – and to save worthwhile cultural institutions.”

Storozynski will discuss how the editorials were put together and also talk to students about a career in journalism. Storozynski has been writing editorials at the New York City-based News for four years.

Before joining in the News’ editorial board, Storozynski worked for more than a decade as a reporter and editor. He began his journalism career working in 1983 at the Legislative Gazette, a weekly newspaper published by the College at New Paltz in Albany. He was a political science major and journalism minor while at New Paltz.

Storozynski, who also has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia, was an editor of a weekly newspaper in Queens, and then in 1989 became editor of Empire State Report, a magazine about politics and public policy in New York. He also has worked in public relations for the New York State Attorney General and the Thruway Authority.

He began work as an editorial writer in 1996. The News’ editorial board has won the Associated Press’ prize for editorial writing for three years in a row.

The event is free and open to the public. The News’ editorials are available at http://www.pulitzer.org.