The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize on Monday for breaking-news reporting, covering the October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshippers were killed by a gunman during Shabbat-morning services.
It was the deadliest attack in American Jewish history.
“The value of members of this news staff doing their jobs, doing their sacred duty, has been affirmed,” said executive editor Keith Burris to the Post-Gazette newsroom following the announcement.
A moment of silence was observed for the victims.
“We are not so much celebrating as affirming … the job we were put on this earth to do,” said Post-Gazette emeritus executive editor David Shribman, who headed the staff as the tragedy developed. “Let’s dedicate ourselves to the memory of those whose lives were lost.”