Everybody im steve it is my privilege to preside over this speakers pride ceremony our program is a little bit of it introduction a little bit of things in a discussion with her three winners that is great to see a good group here and thank you all for sharing this part of the evening with us. Let me first tell you about this prize since not all of you maybe is acquainted with it as we are. This is a memory of tony lucas was fired my generation of journalists by the time we were in college and started to think about what we wanted to know and what we wanted to write. And social issues in Common Ground was one of the big books on that shelf. When tony passed a lot of experience to come together to create this prize. So that is where this prize began. It has expanded gradually to include the history prize which is named for the late mark hinton who is a Senior Executive in the netherlands for the time of his death in 1997 and a deep reader and supporter of serious history. His wife marianne and his children Lillian Michael establish the history prize is part of the lucas price project to honor him. The file has generously underwritten this prize since conception in 1998. Almost an institution now coming up on 20 years. Marks wife marianne and his children lillian and michael have been involved with the philanthropists as thoughtful partners and as participants and we are grateful for everything they do. As a center prize has evolved and has encompassed several other areas of support for nonfiction writing. Thinking about the arc of the career that tonys work modeled for so many of us in this time since the 1960s. It includes support for Student Fellowship that gives 5000 other grants to the students in the book writing seminar that same freedom has led so successfully for so long. Many going to publish books they developed in sams classes a 15 week spring seminar by application is an institution here and designed to teach, encourage, and mentor every student to finishes serious book proposal. If you ask him what it has been over the years it is a jawdropping. I think michaels wife, jamie is here tonight. I would like to recognize her and think the family. I would like to recognize the Board Members in attendance. Jonathan alter who i will introduce in a moment, shea, linda, pamela, and paul thank you for making this such a healthy prize. [applause] the judges who have also given great time and dedication to the quality of the winners we see year after year. I think some of them are with us. Charlie, leon, john duff, martha, and sarah. Thank you all very much. [applause] now i would like to invite Jonathan Alter up to say a few words. He is well known to many of u. S. And awardwinning author and political partner and we know him as the chair of the lucas price board. Hes been a great part of the school. Please come up. [applause] thank you stephen thank you for all you do a columbia. Its wonderful to see such a national institution, the premier Journalism School in our country so well led. I want to welcome you all and thank you for coming and give another salute to our wonderful judges. This is a real serious commitment of time. They take it with great seriousness. It is really appreciative tour judges, not just the sheer but over the last 19 years. I want to very briefly give you a sense of what the Larger Mission of his lucas price project is. I think many of you know that the Business Model for journalism is in flux. To put it mildly. There are a series of new initiatives that have tried to contend with this, probably the best known as pro public a which is doing outstanding work. There are other nonprofits, the Marshall Project and others that are filling the gap where the market is no longer providing the kind of investigative reporting that we need. There is a similar, maybe less acute, but still important problem in book publishing. For years it has been called the crisis of the mid list, that seems to be an overstatement of it. Nonetheless, authors are not getting the advances they need to complete longterm work, in a nutshell. Some are, but large numbers are not. They need help if they are going to invest the time necessary to deliver firstrate nonfiction. If we want to nurture narrative nonfiction in our culture which is extraordinarily important as a vessel for our culture, we need to supplement the efforts of book publishers. That is what were trying to do. We have the lucas graham price and the lenten history prize and they are both very important and honor outstanding work, the one that is closest to our mission is the work in progress prize, the Jay Anthony Lukas project price. The family has now been generous enough that we now have a second work in progress prize which we will provide. These are extraordinarily helpful in letting authors complete the work that they were put on the earth to do. You would not believe the small size of the advances that many of them have received. There are many books, one just mentioned one which is a factory man which is a show starring tom hanks. She would not have been able to finish this book if she had not have one a lucas work in progress award. There are plenty of other examples of that. We see this as a Central Mission to help others who are still engaged in work. I would ask you to look for people that you know of who could apply for this award, or who could even find another one. My goal is to have not two, but five, six, ten of these work in progress awards so we can become a real force and nurturing important american nonfiction. I want to introduce Henry Lapinski he was going to provide the awards for this years winners. [applause] thank you. I just want to say what an honor it is to co minister this prize with steve and colleagues at columbia. Tony lucas was, is an esteemed alarm of the name of fellowship. I first met him, the only time i met him was on my own fellowship at the Nieman Foundation at harvard. As steve said, he was an inspiration to a generation and remain so to the new kids coming up. It is a privilege and honor to be part of this. The j. Anthony lukas a book prize is provided to a book length work of narrative nonfiction on topic of social or political concern that exemplifies the literary grace, commitment to research and responsibility that characterize the distinguish work of the namesake of the war. The judges were charlie conrad, nina briley, and richard joyce. This years winners gary young, an editor at large for the guardian and an alford novel fellow at the institute for his book, another day in the death of america. A chronicle of ten short lives. It tells the story of the lives of children and teens lost in a single day to gun violence. This is the judges citation. This is a book about america and its kids made through a particular ones at a particular moment, writes gary young and his intimate, affecting urgent portrait of ten young lives ended due to gun violence during a time of 24 hours across america. His masterful reporting illustrates the Collateral Damage of gun deaths happening every day and this is society where these deaths are uniquely possible and has the political culture uniquely capable of creating a world in which they may be prevented. [applause] [applause] this years finalist for the book price is a great for his book, the great suppression. Voting right, Corporate Cash in the conservative assault on democracy. It shows how voting restrictions and other efforts to undermine american democracy are hurting the most vulnerable americans. He is a former National Reporter for msnbc. The judges right in their citation, and the great suppression sack reexplain the rigging of american democracy by focusing on a series of smaller plots. Gerrymandering, right wing activism, dark money and targeted Voter Suppression that together have produced a right wing minority take over the country at all levels. The stunning book exposes how small a powerful group has worked for decades, largely under the radar to return power to those for whom it was reserved by the nations founders. Whites, property owning men. It is too late for todays progressives who never saw it coming if they did never presented a coherent defense against it. This book belongs in every American College students backpack. [applause] the market price is awarded to those with intellectual distinction and expression. This years judges, sylvia, leon, and stacy. We thank them. This years winner is tyler, professor of history at George Washington university for his history of new yorks immigrants from the citys founding to the present, city of dreams, the 400 year epic history of immigrant new york. The citation rates. Tyler has set himself the end possible task of writing a history of new york immigration from the citys founding to its present. He succeeds splendidly, extracting a graceful narrative from a wealth of research. He introduces us to 1625 new yesterday and shortly after settlers first splashed the cow late out of the wilderness. It offers a tour of that for obsessed trading post before moving them blamed on where to the recent waves of chinese and caribbean immigration. Focusing in particular on the areas that would transform the city, and within the country. Throughout he offers up emblematic forgotten heroes. The result is ambitious and intimate and with varying degrees of success each immigrant group settles and transforms the promised land. And seems to know instinctively how long to inhabit a story, whether that of peters anger with that of a woman with ellis island or state of liberty herself. He does not forget his own greatgrandparents, the results is crackling with energy as much about the countrys past and the future, story of the city that his life had it a century ago sport if you are americanism than any spot with the kingdom of heaven. Tyler. [applause] [applause] this years finalist for the prize is staying in our hearts. 1936 1939 by adam. He is a lecture at the university of california berkeley in an prolific author. The citation reads, spain in our hearts is a vivid, graceful highly romanced account of what happened when more than 1000 Young American joined the Republican Forces in 1937. Mostly communist Party Members with scant military experience and no spanish. They fought against a million man professional army. Led by general francisco frankly and equip im whistling in hitler. The result was heartbreakingly predictable. No amount of ideological fervor or useful heroism could overcome the dearth of weaponry or paranoid soviet advisors. Many volunteers were killed or died of disease. Many were disillusioned but others considered this the finest time of their lives. Armed with a mask of original research and a rare gift for storytelling he gives the experiences of fresh media seat and relevance. Were sorry he cannot be with us tonight. But we congratulate him anyway. [applause] last the work in progress award is given to aid the completion of the significant work of nonfiction on a topic of american political or social concern. Christopher leonard, journalists whose work has appeared widely has won the 25000dollar award for his work, coakley and americas new hollow economy. The judges this year were john duff, martha levin and sarah. They wrote Christopher Leonards coke inside Coke Industries and americas new hollow economy is a timely, relevant, balance a masterful work of journalism that explores one of the largest most diverse and richest conglomerates in the u. S. And creates an indepth portrait of american corporate power. Using Coke Industries as microcosm to examine the new economic order in america leno reveals the coax mastery over the complex markets and political systems and most important shows why we live in a hollow economy or corporations prophet handsomely while middleclass americans failed to reap the games of the prosperity. [applause] and helen, journalists from temper, has won the 5000dollar award for her work, the newcomer. The judge is right, this documents a year in one classroom at South High School in denver, colorado which has developed a particular expertise in handling refugee students due to the united states. Having spent an entire year their classroom observing them helen provides a compassionate and insightful work at the students as they struggle to master not only a new language but a new way of life. Through the experiences of these children we see the global refugee crisis rips small and a way that allows us all to understand what our country represents to political refugees and how crucial it is that we continue to welcome them. [applause] thank you. I should set myself that we enjoyed partnered and enjoyed the partnership and this is fantastic. No im going to moderate a conversation for a few minutes then i will open its you will have your questions and get you back at the bar at a reasonable time. Let me ask each of the panelists to take a few minutes to say little bit more than the judges to about the intention of their work, its origins if you wish but also some sense of what you you to it and what themes you hoped it would illuminate. Lets start with chris and your work in progress and will go from there. Thank you. Ill try to make its distinct and short. First of i want to echo what you said about the importance of this price and finishing work like this take so much time and resources for reporting. Something like this is invaluable to get that done. I was drawn to Coke Industries because it seemed to be a perfect vehicle to talk about what is going on in our economy. Theres a book by tom wolfe called a man in full. A file Coke Industries is a corporation in full. A giant, sprawling institution that touches every part of our economy from Energy Infrastructure to bluecollar manufacturing jobs, this provides a big roomy campus to Start Talking about what has happened in our economy of the last 40 years. Its also a great way to tell the story because it is a privately held firm run by a man named charles coke who has a particular view of how our economy should be structured in the role of government. I feel this is one poll in the argument in regulated markets and how market should function. Its a battle we are seeing played out today. Its a great vehicle to be talking about that today and this price will help a lot to report about. And this is the third book that has characters of the sun. A couple of books of young women comingofage in others immigrants. Your ambition was well described in the judges citation, tell us about the methodology and how you decided to settle that with this group of subjects. Thank you. It is wonderful to be here tonight. You are asking about our inspiration, my parents are here this evening and they live close by but they are originally from ireland. I think you can see where probably my inspiration comes from being interested in immigrants and refugees and people from other countries. My first book was a work of immersion journalism if we can throw terms around. This book is as well. I do love immersion journalism. I love being in the moment with the people im writing about in real time in getting to know them slowly over time. And witnessing what unfolds without knowing exactly what will happen next. It is a bit of a gamble. Because who knows how the book will turn out when you dont know what the story is yet. If you put yourself at the right place at the right time magical things can happen. In this case it is not clear to me that was going to be true for quite a while. I have put myself in the classroom with teenagers who are not saying anything at all. A lot of time went by. I have a very patient editor who is here this evening and because he believed that this classroom was a good place to be and i would talk to about it from time to time. I stuck it out. Really Amazing Things happened when the kids began to acquire some english and i was able to bring interpreters in the room and get to know them better. And yes it is really a join honor to be here. Once upon a time i met tony lucas at a conference and i was reminiscing with his widow about that is he was incredibly kind to me when i was very young i was trying to tell him how much i admired his work. It is nice to be here. Congratulations tyler, this is a monumental book and easy to read at the same time. As you outlined in the introduction you had to make choices about where to start and who to put in and who to leave out. He made them effortlessly at least. On the page i dont know how effortless it was in fact, but you been working in the sun for a while but you went big with this narrative. How did you decide to take on an epic form of your engagement with immigration in new york. How did you shape the choices you made as he went along. The way i came about the topic, some of the people are in the room who had a lot to do with it. When i was in graduates do not columbia in the 80s my mentor was eric. [applause] in one of the graduate seminars i was in we read the manuscript of his book that was published around 87. Was a monumental book. Up until that point i never imagine that i could ever write a book like that. As we talked over the semester and he let us through how he did it i started to think well i could do Something Like that. I started to imagine which is the biggest hurdle to over common a work like this. That inspired me. I decided someday i wanted to write a book like his reconstruction book. I eventually came up with the idea of doing something with new york immigrants. When i would tell people my dear that mostly look at me like i was crazy and nobody could turn that into a narrative. In 1995 and met Bruce Nichols who is here who edited the book he didnt have that reaction. He had a glow and is a and he said thats a great idea. When i going to start on it. And i said im not ready to write that yet he sai