January 29, 2005

Congratulations

I just received the Winter 2005 issue of ACU Today, the magazine for alumni of Abilene Christian University, and learned that David Leeson, who graduated from ACU seven years before I arrived, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for his work as an embedded photographer (for the Dallas Morning News) during the Iraq war. Leeson, a Pulitzer finalist in 1986, 1990 and 1995, richly deserves the award. I did a little Googling and ran across this article where he describes the experience of being "embedded" with Task Force 2-69 Armored of the Third Brigade - a unit that saw 23 straight days of combat.

In the fall of 2000, Leeson began shooting video for The Dallas Morning News making him one of the first staff photographers in the nation shooting video for a newspaper on a full-time basis. Since then he has completed more than 70 short features and seven documentaries which have won him numerous awards in film and television including, a national Edward R. Murrow award, National Headliners award and a regional Emmy award for best television documentary. He was a finalist for best short film at the USA Film Festival in 2004.

The Pulitzers are handed out each April. I'm not sure how I missed Leeson's win until now. But I did. So a very belated congratulations to a very fine journalist and fellow alum.