The Pulitzer Prize adapts to the new media world. Finally.

I’m not a regular reader of Vanity Fair magazine’s blogs, but Could Perez Hilton win a Pulitzer? definitely caught my attention. Actually, the blog was citing a story from Editor & Publisher about the Pulitzer Prize organization’s decision to accept submissions from online-only news outlets.   In his interview with Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher, Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler clarifies the new rules. But the clarification only underscores what the Web is doing to our ideas about journalism. What do we consider to be journalistic intent or a legitimate news source? What about content that is in the form of streaming video or podcasts? What if the online-only news source includes both investigative pieces that meet high journalistic standards and blogs published by community members?   What is the difference between an online newsmagazine and an online newsmagazine? And so on. Gissler addressed most of these issues fairly well. Most important, he stressed that  the most important criteria for being awarded a Pulitzer for journalism remains the same as always: You have to do original news reporting and you have to do it according to the “highest standards.” Notably, the “Local Reporting of Breaking News” category will give special emphasis to “the speed and accuracy of the initial coverage,” thus acknowledging that hot stories typically “break” on the Web long before they appear in traditional print media or the nightly broadcast news. (Any PR person who has dealt with breaking news in the last 10 years knows exactly how this works and sort of misses the simplicity of having only print media timetables to consider. Once a story breaks on the Web, you can’t really offer a news exclusive to anybody else because your story is already out.) Props to the Pulitzers for upholding standards while acknowledging the explosion of online news sources now available.

You, too, can be a neighborhood Medici

I finally checked out the Hyde Park Art Center last week — a long overdue visit — to see the “Not Just Another Pretty Face” exhibit, among other pleasures in this still-new-to-me facility. The “Not Just Another Face” exhibit is a collection of portraits commissioned by neighborhood residents working with Chicago-area artists. Now in its third year, the project was conceived to debunk the idea that only elite connoisseurs can commission works of art. These pieces, which include paintings, drawings and multimedia/sculpture, cost from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and each is a the result of about a year’s worth of collaboration. Not surprisingly, the portraits have an intimate feel, especially those that capture the subject in an ordinary moment, such as carrying shrubs for a garden, rather than being formal and posed. On the other hand, one of the posed drawings featured a fellow who looked like such a nice person, we wanted to invite him over for dinner. What works in this project is that it engages non-artists in the art-making process, without the expectation that they will actually produce the art. It also illustrates HPAC’s skill at being a true community art center — the community is on display!