Press Release
April 16, 2007
NAHJ Congratulates NY Times Journalist Andrea Elliott for Pulitzer Prize
Media Contact: (202) 662-7145
|
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists extends its congratulations to member Andrea Elliott of The New York Times for her Pulitzer Prize in the feature writing category. Winners of the Pulitzer Prizes were announced April 16.
According to The New York Times, "Elliott, 34, who began writing about the Muslim experience in America in 2005, was honored for a series of articles on Sheik Reda Shata, an Egyptian-born imam who came to Brooklyn to preside over a mosque. The articles illustrated the highly charged challenges the imam faced as
|
both prayer leader and, increasingly, a community leader."
“When Islamic traditions clash with American culture, it is imams who step forward with improvised answers,” Elliott wrote. “Outside the mosque, many assume the public roles of other clergy, becoming diplomats for their faith.”
Elliott covers Islam in America as a metropolitan reporter at The Times. She created the beat in 2005, focusing on the impact of 9/11 on American Muslims. Her award-winning series can be read by clicking here.
"I am immensely proud of Andrea's accomplishment," said NAHJ president Rafael Olmeda. "I am fortunate to have seen her grow from being a talented student to a fierce competitor in South Florida and now a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the New York Times. Congratulations to her and to all this year's Pulitzer Prize winners."
Elliott was born in Washington, D.C. to a Chilean mother and American father. A graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she was a reporter at The Miami Herald from 2000 to 2003, where she covered crime, natural disasters, immigration trends, Latin American politics and the recount of the 2000 presidential election.
She joined The New York Times in May 2003 where she started as a general assignment reporter on the metropolitan desk and also covered the Bronx. Her stories have included an investigation of the private policing system at Macy's department stores, coverage of the bereaved children of 9/11 and reporting from Washington and overseas on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
|
