Board. [applause] thank you very much. It is my pleasure to introduce a number of great winners to the Pulitzer Prizes tonight. Let me take a moment of personal privilege to recognize one of my predecessors both as the chair of the Tampa Bay Times company and of the Pulitzer Prize, andy barnes is with us. [applause] our purpose here this evening is to say happy birthday to the Pulitzer Prizes. They turn 100 years old this year, which is older than anybody in this room, i believe. [laughter] this is a great tribute to a robust and resilient american institution. So, lets also say thank you to Joseph Pulitzer who created these prizes. It is a very hard thing to when win a pulitzer. It is hard even to become one of the three finalists. Hundreds and hundreds of entries arrive in new york each year for prizes given in journalism, literature, and the arts. Volunteer juries of experts spend days willing down the entries down to a final three. These are submitted to the thetzer prize board and Board Members read every finalists entry and vote on a winner. It is with great pleasure than to present to you these Pulitzer Prize winners whose work has inspired us and who join us here this evening. I will present them in Chronological Order of the year they won their prize. Please hold your applause until all of them have been introduced. Winner of the 1982 prize for Public Service, city free burn. Freeburn. Winner of the 1988 prize for feature writing, jackie. Winner of the 19931992 prize for feature writing for the New York Times, al raymes. Winner of the 1993 prize for the commentary from the miami herald and a graduate of the poynter institute. Winner of the 1998 prize for photography for the los angeles times, Clarence Williams the third. Weight of the 2003 for the Baltimore Sun and another poynter graduate. Winner of the 2003 prize for commentary for the Washington Post colbert king. Winner of the 2007 prize for commentary for the atlanta journalconstitution, Cynthia Tucker. Winner of the 2007 prize for history with his coauthor jean roberts, hank. Winner of the 2009 prize for the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson. Winner of the 2014 the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for the detroit free press, stephen henderson. And now, from your own newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times, winner of the 1985 prize for investigative reporting, lindsay morgan. [applause] please hold your applause. [laughter] you had been doing so well, too. [laughter] winner of the 1998 prize for feature writing, thomas french. Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, duane gregory. Winner of the 2013 prize for editorial writing, tim higgins and dan ruth. [applause] we have a consistent offender here. [laughter] and winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for prize for global reporting, michael. Now, please joining in a round of applause. [applause] thank you very much and enjoy the evening. And now, in this evening of special moments, anyone where may reign supreme, this may be it. Our keynote speaker is one of americas great champions of civil rights. Social justice, and equality. A legend. His legacy has uplifted us all. Congressman john lewis. [applause] to introduce them as the winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary in the atlanta journalconstitution. Please welcome Cynthia Tucker haynes. [applause] cynthia good evening. It is fitting on this evening devoted to the history of civil rights and social justice in america that we hear from my dear friend, john lewis. What kind of prize, i wonder, does he deserve . Lets put it this way, his life is a prize. If we melted down the Precious Metals of a Pulitzer Prize and a nobel peace prize, and an oscar, and a medal of honor, and forged prizes, it would not do him justice. He was born the son of sharecroppers on february 21, 1940, outside of troy, alabama. He grew up on his familys farm and attended segregated Public Schools in pike county, alabama. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the montgomery bus boycott and the words of Martin Luther king jr. , which he heard on radio broadcast. He even read comic books were where civil rights leaders were the heroes. In those pivotal moments, he made a decision to become a part of the Civil Rights Movement. While still a young man, john lewis became a nationally recognized leader. By 1963, he was dubbed one of the big six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. At the age of 23, he was an architect of and the keynote speaker at the historic march on washington in august, 1963. In 1965, john helped spearhead one of the most seminal events of the Civil Rights Movement. Along with hosea williams, john lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protesters across the Edmund Pettis bridge in selma, alabama on march 7. They intended to march from selma to montgomery to demonstrate the need for Voting Rights in the state. But marchers were attacked by Alabama State troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as bloody sunday. News broadcast and photographs revealing the senseless cruelty of the segregated south helped hasten the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965. Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks, and serious injuries, congressman lewis remains a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. In the halfcentury since those momentous events, he has compiled an inspiring list of achievements too numerous to mention here. There is one accomplishment that fills him with pride. He is the coauthor of a graphic novel trilogy. Language,d memorable it captures one of the most astonishing Life Experiences ever led by any american of any color. It offers to a new century and a new generation of the story of a people. Of the american people, that should never be forgotten. In the years ahead, as we create Pulitzer Prizewinning stories about the next battles for civil rights, social justice, and equality, there will be voices echoing from the past and into our future to inspire us. One of the most powerful will be the voice of john lewis. Join me now in welcoming him. [applause] congressman lewis good evening. Thank you Cynthia Tucker, my good friend, for that warm and kind introduction. It is good to see you. It is good to be here. I am delighted to see each and every one of you. I want to thank the president of the poynter institute, tim franklin, and the Pulitzer Prize committee who invited me to celebrate the 100 anniversary with you this evening. Cynthia told you that i did not grow up in a big city. [laughter] like st. Petersburg . [laughter] or a city light and mentor atlanta, washington d. C. , or new york . Miami . Tallahassee . [laughter] sarasota . [laughter] it is to that i grew up in rural alabama, 50 miles from montgomery, outside of a little place called troy. She told you that my father was a sharecropper and a farmer. She did not tell you that my grandfather worked on another persons land. She did not tell you that my greatgrandfather was a slave. She did not tell you that on a farm, it was my responsibility to care for the chickens, and i fell in love with raising chickens. [laughter] she did not tell you that, as a little boy, i became so fond of raising chickens and i wanted to be a minister, that i would gather all of the chickens in the chicken yard [laughter] we are gathered here in this wonderful theater, and we would have church. [laughter] i would preach to the chickens, and when i look back, some of these chickens would bow their heads. They never quite said amen. [laughter] but i am convinced that some of those chickens i preached to in the 1940s and 1950s tended to listen to me better than some of my colleagues listen to me today in congress. [laughter] [applause] and some of those chickens for were just a little more just a little more productive. [laughter] but you who live in this Congressional District are more than lucky. You are truly blessed to have a wonderful congressperson in caffe. Kathy. [applause] growing up there when we would visit troy, visit montgomery, visit tuskegee, i saw the signs that said white men, colored man, white women, color waiting, white waiting. To go downtown on a saturday afternoon to a theater, the black children had to go upstairs to the balcony. Although little white children went downstairs to the first floor. I came home and asked my mother, father, grandparents, uncles and aunts, teachers, why . They said, that is the way it is. Dont get into trouble. 1955, 15 years old in the 10th grade, i heard about what happened to him it till ended emmitt till. I heard about rosa parks. Her the words from Martin Luther king jr. On the radio. The action of rosa parks, the words of dr. King inspired me to find a way to get in the way. I got in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. We were too poor to have a subscription to the local newspaper. My grandfather had one. Each day, we would finish reading the montgomery advertiser. We got the paper and we read it. One of my teachers was from montgomery. Who came to troy, the place a that dr. King called the four corners of alabama. He called me the boy from troy. He told me what was happening there. In 1957, at the age of 17 when i finished high school, i wanted to attend a School Called troy state college, now known as troy university. I never heard a word from the school, so i wrote a letter to Martin Luther king jr. , told him i needed his help. He wrote me back and sent me a roundtrip bus ticket and invited me to montgomery to meet with him. In the meantime, i had then accepted to a Little College in nashville tennessee, now known collegecan baptist where i was going to study religion to study for the ministry. Dr. King heard i was there. He got back in church. He suggested when i was home for spring break to come see him. In march 1958, the age of 18, i boarded a bus and traveled from troy to montgomery. There was a young lawyer by the name of fred gray, a lawyer for four rosa parks and Martin Luther king jr. And the montgomery movement, who became our lawyer during the freedom rides and in the march on summa in the march from selma to montgomery. Dr. King said, are you the boy from troy . Are you john lewis . And i said, dr. King, i am john robert lewis. I had a discussion with my mother and my father. They were afraid. They thought that they would lose the land. Thought our home would be bombed. Suggested i continue to study in nashville that is what i did. It is there hundreds of thousands of students like students all across the south were standing in the way of peace and love, the way of nonviolence. For the besting up in america. The media. Photographers helped move the movement around the south and around the nation. Spread it like wildfire. We were beaten. We were arrested. We were jailed. Sitting there in nonviolent fashion waiting to be served, someone would come and spit on us. We would be arrested, and jailed. We were not trespassing. We were orderly. We were peaceful. Arrested,time i got in nashville, tennessee, a picture of me and others on the front page. I heard i may get arrested. What some young people used to call fresh. I have little money. I had little money. I went downtown and bought a used suit at a used mens store and paid five dollars for it. I saw a picture a few days ago. I looked clean. I looked sharp. [laughter] today,ill had that suit i could probably sell it on ebay for a lot of money. [laughter] so i come here tonight to thank members of this Great Institution for finding a way to get in the way. Finding a way to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble, now more than ever before. We need to press to be a headlight and not a taillight. To get out there and push and pull. And be courageous. We are not there yet. We have not created a beloved community and not laid down the burden of the race. The stains of racism are still deeply embedded in our society. When you can have a member of congress saying to the president of the United States, you lie. When you can have a governor in a state put her finger in the face of the president of the United States, that is not right. That is not fair. With someone do that to a white president . We should not sweep the issue of race under the rug, or in some dark corner. We must confront it head on. If we fail to do what is right, and fair, and just, it will consume all of us. You have an obligation, you have a mission and a mandate. You have it. You have a moral obligation pick up your pens and pencils, user cameras to tell the story , to make it plain, to make it real. It does not matter whether we are black or white, hispanic, asian american, or native american, we are one people, one family, we all live in the same house, the american house. The late randolph said to us back in 1963 when we were planning the march on washington, he said it over and over again, maybe are for emothers and forefathers all came to this great land in different ships, but we are all in the same boat. Me, you, all of us. We can do better. We must do better. If we get it right in america, maybe we can serve as a model for the rest of the world. [applause] im going to tell you a story and then i will be finished. Because this is your night, not mine. I am just a poor, country boy that happened to be elected to congress. [laughter] when i was growing up outside of troy, alabama, 50 miles from my father on a farm bought on land we still own today. Aunt and she lives and what we call a shotgun house. She did not have a green, manicured lawn. She had a simple, plain, dirt yard. In this great city, you do not know what i am talking about. , one way in, one way out. A house you could bounce a basketball through the front door and it would go straight out the back door. [laughter] aunttime to time, my on would go out in the woods my aunt geneva would go out in the woods, tied tree branches together, and make a broom. She would sweep the dirt yard very clean, sometimes two or three times a week. Sundaylly on saturday or because she wanted the shotgun good yard to look during the weekend. One saturday afternoon, a group of my brothers and sisters in a and a few of my first cousins, there were only i was only four years old or five years old, and unbelievable storm came up, thunder started rolling in lightning started flashing. And the rain started beating on roof of the shotgun house. My aunt started crying. She thought this old house would blow away. She got all of us little Children Together and told us to hold hands, and we did as we were told. The wind continued to blow and the thunder continue to roll and the lightning continue to flash and the rain continued on the roof of this old house and we cried and we cried. In one corner of the house, my us to hold theet house down with our little bodies. We never, ever left the house. The wind may blow, the thunder may role and the lightning may flash, but you must state with the house. Stay with the house. You must not give up you must hold on tell the truth, report the truth, disturb the order of things. Find a way to get in the way and make a little noise with your pens, pencils, and with your cameras. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you congressman was for your words tonight and for your example and your Service Every day. All of us, within the sound of my voice, and enveloped with the sound of his words, how fortunate are we tonight, a very special night in st. Petersburg. Know that we are blessed. Thank you, congressman lewis. [applause] now, please help me welcome dr. Roy peter clark. Teacher too many, mentor to more, Vice President and senior scholar at the poynter institute. [applause] clark good evening. The grapes of wrath, we have watched to kill a mockingbird or danced with the Duke Ellington take the a train and who have experienced the work of a Pulitzer Prize winner. The journalism that are the prices have lighted the way for the communities and countries of the world. The prices have gone to thousands of newspaper journalist working in many different categories from reporting to feature writing to editorial writing to criticism to cartooning to photography. ,he fine arts and literature prices has gone to poets, novelists, playwrights, biographers, historians, and composers. Unreal occasions, special citations have gone to artists whose body of work has helped shape america. This evening, we celebrate those winners whose work eliminated the themes of civil rights, social justice and equality. And 2008, the Great American troubadour, bob dylan one a special Pulitzer Prize citation for his profound impact on popular music and american culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. To remind us of that power, marking traumatic social change, we present florida troubadour, bill shuster. [applause] stand around people wherever you roam a