ILLINOIS

Cornelia Grumman of the Chicago Tribune has won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for a series of editorials against the death penalty.

"I know it's a cliche to say I feel humbled, but I am so humbled by this," Grumman said to the applause of fellow Tribune employees who gathered in the 4th-floor newsroom of Tribune Tower after the Pulitzers were announced.

Grumman acknowledged the investigative reporting of the last 5 years by Tribune staff writers Steve Mills, Maurice Possley and Ken Armstrong. The Tribune investigations uncovered systemic problems in the way capital punishment was doled out in Illinois and helped exonerate men who unjustly had been sentenced to death.

"I feel like my work has been a footnote to the book they wrote … just the last chapter calling for reform for all the problems they detailed," Grumman said. "My hat's off to them. They are my heroes."

Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinski praised Grumman for her reasoned, compassioned and well-written editorials calling for death penalty reform. That she deserves this award, Lipinski said, "is not news to those who work day in and day out with Cornelia."

Editorial Page Editor R. Bruce Dold said, "This is an incredible honor to Cornelia, but it isn't a great surprise to anybody who has worked with her on the Editorial Board the last few years. ... On so many issues of fundamental justice, Cornelia has stood tall on our pages."