Small Iowa Newspaper Wins Pulitzer Prize

There are only 10 people who work there and they are almost all related.

Just because you're from a small town in Iowa doesn't mean you can't compete with much larger, bigger cities. And not that they even meant to 'compete.' They were doing what they thought was right.

The Cullen family lives in Storm Lake, IA. (about 2 1/2 hours north-west of Des Moines) started writing honestly about farm chemicals and the harm they were causing. It's not easy to do when you're surrounded by corn fields in the Midwest.

According to TheGuardian.com,

"But it was the paper’s dogged coverage of farming issues affecting the state that won them the coveted journalism prize."

"Cullen is proud that the Pulitzer committee recognised his small newspaper’s efforts alongside those of larger papers. The two other finalists in the editorial writing category were from the Houston Chronicle and The Washington Post."

What an honor for Iowa to have journalists so committed to reporting the facts, even at the loss of advertisers, that they would have the integrity to keep publishing. That's a rare gem in the world of technology and information, where almost anything is for sale. I am grateful to this family for maintaining the truth for the readers and community they serve, no matter how had that may have been.