Sometimes you think–just think–that there is an element of pc in the Pulitzer Prizes. I was trolling Andrew Sullivan’s blog when I discovered the great news: There is a new journalistic prize on offer. Maybe it’ll become the award for non-pc scribblers. It’s an award the Atlantic Monthly has just established to honor the late Michael Kelly, the first U.S. reporter to die in Iraq. Kelly, who was killed April 3, 2003, was editor of the Atlantic Monthly. The award will go to a journalist who, like Kelly, devotes himself (or herself) to “the pursuit of truth.” Kelly was a true maverick, always original, never part of the journalistic pack. He always went his own way, even if it meant getting fired from the New Republic or leaving a prestige job to go off and freelance. Deadline to apply for the award is in February, and the prize money is $25,000. We hope that the Kelly Award will go to a young lad or lass who’s as fearless as Kelly, who was never bound by the conventional wisdom.
