BALTIMORE -- The staff of the Baltimore News American was a runner-up Monday for a Pulitzer Prize in the spot news category for an article on elderly man accused of killing a young neighbor because of a snowball-throwing incident.
News American staffers Amy Eisman, Stephen Braun, Joe Calderone and Laura Scism reported and wrote the cited article 'The Snowball Tragedy,' which appeared in the Jan. 13, 1980, editions.
It was edited by then metropolitan editor William Hamilton, who has sinced joined The Washington Post as an assistant Maryland editor.
The article was a portrait of Roman G. Welzant, a 67-year-old great-grandfather from Eastwood later acquitted of fatally shooting Albert Kahl Jr., and wounding James Wiley, 16. The retiree claimed he had been harassed for many years by neighborhood youths.
News American editor Jon Katz said, 'This is a credit to the reporters who worked on that story. This is the closest we've gotten (to a Pulitzer Prize), and we'll be back next year and try to do better.'
Also named runners-up in the spot news category were Janet Cooke of the Wshington Post, for a story on an 8-year-old heroin addict -- which won the prize in the feature category -- and the Miami Herald staff for, 'Three Days of Rage: The Miami Riots.'
The awards, the most distinguished in American journalism and this year selected from among 1,237 entries, were announced at Columbia University by Michael J. Sovern, president of the university and of the Pulitzer board.
