Harvard Alum Will Chair Pulitzer Board

Andrew E. Barnes ’61, the chief executive officer of the St. Petersburg Times, was named the new chair of the board that awards Pulitzer Prizes Wednesday.

Barnes, who has served on the board since 1996, was given the annually rotating position because he is the most senior of the 14 appointed members of the group.

Though Barnes has many fond memories of his time in Cambridge, his career in journalism—w-hich has included editing and writing stints at the Washington Post—did not start until after college.

Both Barnes’ father and his uncle were presidents of The Crimson, but he said that he saw no reason to compete with them while at Harvard, and devoted his time to playing in the band instead.

After graduating with a degree in history, though, Barnes said he “needed a job”—so he took a position at the Providence (R.I.) Journal.

Since then, his career has focused almost entirely on journalism.

After a two-year stint in the Army, and eight years as a reporter, deputy metro editor and education editor at the Washington Post, Barnes started work at the St. Petersburg Times, where he has been the chief executive officer since 1988.

The Pulitzer board, which includes the editors of many of the country’s top papers, meets twice a year at Columbia University, for one day in the fall and a week in April to pick the winners.

Barnes described board members, who include DuBois Professor of the Humanitites Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Washington Post publisher Donald E. Graham ’66, as a wonderful group of people.

He joked that despite reports to the contrary, “everyone is sober” and “most of them do the reading.”

He said helping to pick Pulitzer winners has been a “great” intellectual experience for him, as his journalistic career shifts toward administration.

Barnes joked that the main strength he would bring as chair of the board was “running meetings.”

Sig Gissler, the administrator of the Pulitzer board and an associate professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, had nothing but praise for Barnes.

“He has been an outstanding board member,” Gissler said. “He always does his homework, is very thoughtful and decisive.”

Barnes’ Harvard education prepared him well for doing that homework, he said, because board members have to read around 15 books in two months.

He added that a well-disciplined mind is vital for the position, and that— though he isn’t sure what things are like at Harvard now—back when he was a student “reading widely was a priority.”

This year’s Pulitzer winners were announced on April 5, and the awards will be presented at a luncheon at Columbia on May 15.

Recipients include The New York Times, which won in the category of public service for its coverage of unsafe workplace conditions.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel L. Golden ’78 won in the beat reporting category for his articles on admissions preferences for the children of alumni and donors.

Steve Hahn’s A Nation Under Our Feet, which was published by Harvard University Press, won in the history category. The book is a history of black post-civil war political struggles.