pulitzer-winner
Alum William McKenzie shares Pulitzer Prize
His mind was running a mile a minute and his to-do list was a mile long on that manic Monday last spring when William McKenzie (鈥�79) finished lunch and raced back to work. Just in time for his boss to tell him to be downstairs in three minutes. Not all interruptions are created equal, and this one was welcome: McKenzie, a columnist at The Dallas Morning News, had just won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He shares the award with colleagues Tod Robberson and Colleen McCain Nelson.
鈥�I was completely surprised,鈥� McKenzie says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e kind of looking at yourself and thinking, 鈥榃e just won the Pulitzer!鈥� 鈥�
He did so for a series of editorials spotlighting the differences between affluent north Dallas and impoverished south Dallas. Or as UT Arlington President James D. Spaniolo said when introducing McKenzie as the Maverick Celebration keynote speaker last May: 鈥淏ill McKenzie focused our attention on parts of the community that too often are ignored, because it鈥檚 easier to ignore an unpleasant reality than to do something about it. We are proud that he has committed his life and career to such important work.鈥�
That commitment was forged by debates and writing projects in political science classes at UT Arlington鈥擫uther Haggard鈥檚 class chief among them. Awards weren鈥檛 on McKenzie鈥檚 mind when he began this project; in fact, he didn鈥檛 even know his editors had submitted it for Pulitzer consideration. 鈥淚t does elevate the project, and that鈥檚 a good thing,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd personally, it does give you a quiet confidence that you鈥檙e doing some good聽work.鈥�
The late Professor Haggard no doubt would have been proud. 鈥淥n the last day of class, I don鈥檛 think either of us would have said that he had changed my life,鈥� McKenzie says. 鈥淏ut I knew that he聽had.鈥�