A Pulitzer for the Chronicle?

Cross your fingers, folks. This year might be the end of the Chronicle's 106-year-long Pulitzer losing streak. That's right -- the Houston Chronicle is the only newspaper among the country's ten largest to have never won a Pulitzer Prize. However, according to an unofficial leaked list of this year's finalists, Nick Anderson, editorial cartoonist, might end the dry spell.

Anderson is already a Pulitzer winner, you see. He's only been with the Chronicle since last February, after a 15-year stint with the Louisville Courier-Journal. Many newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun, have eliminated the position of staff editorial cartoonist recently, so the hire was something of a surprise. Alan Shearer, editorial director/general manager of the Washington Post Writers Group had this to say about Anderson and his work:

It's nice to see the Chronicle buck the trend and to see a hard-working, talented guy like Nick get this opportunity. I don't know of anyone more deserving. He has been producing cartoons of a consistently high quality, which has been recognized by editors everywhere. One day Nick will be among the top five or six most widely published editorial cartoonists.

Anderson, an Ohio native, has been cartooning since high school. In addition to the Pulitzer, he has also won the 1999 Fischetti Award and took first-place honors for editorial cartooning in the Best of Gannett Awards in 1996, 1997 and 1999. 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners will be announced on April 16, 2007.