Pulitzer winner, UW grad Shadid to lecture

Washington Post Islamic affairs correspondent Anthony Shadid, whose coverage of the war in Iraq earned him a 2004 Pulitzer Prize, will deliver the Ralph O. Nafziger Lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 8.

The free, public lecture, titled “Uncovering Baghdad: Reporting in Iraq in War and its Aftermath,” will be given at 4 p.m. in the Howard Auditorium of the Fluno Center, 601 University Ave.

Shadid, who received his bachelor’s degree in journalism at UW–Madison, won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage from Iraq during and after the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

Pulitzer judges cited Shadid for his “extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended.”

James L. Baughman, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, says Shadid will bring a valued perspective to Madison.

“At a time when too many of us have had our faith in journalism deeply shaken, Anthony represents all that is to be admired about reporting,” Baughman says.

Shadid, the ninth UW journalism graduate to win the Pulitzer Prize, will be able to counsel and encourage those many journalism majors who would like to be international correspondents, Baughman says. In 2002, Shadid won the school’s Nafziger Award, given to an outstanding recent graduate of the school.

“He has taken extraordinary physical risks covering some of the most violent stories in the world. Like the best correspondents, he is tough-minded,” Baughman says. “His remarkable career reminds us of journalism’s possibilities.”

Shadid is on leave from the Post, writing a book about the run-up to war, its aftermath and the myriad of perspectives of the Iraqi people and the contradictions and confusion they face.

Shadid’s coverage from Iraq also won him the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ award for deadline writing and the Overseas Press Club’s Hal Boyle Award for best newspaper or wire service reporting from abroad.

In 2003, Shadid was recipient of the George Polk Award for foreign reporting for dispatches from the Middle East while at the Boston Globe.

Before working for the Globe, he was news editor of the Los Angeles bureau of The Associated Press, and worked as a Middle East correspondent for the AP in Cairo from 1995 to 1999. In 1997, nine months of research and dozens of conversations with religious sheiks, students, activists and politicians yielded an award-winning series entitled “Islam’s Challenge.”

His assignments often carry with them a high level of risk, and in March 2002, Shadid was shot in the shoulder while covering fighting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Nafziger Lecture, named for a long-time School of Journalism and Mass Communication director and coordinated by faculty associate Kathleen Culver, is made possible through the support of alumni, friends and the Nafziger family.