Limerick father recalls moment his son told him he is a Pulitzer Prize winner

HE may have been cool as a breeze but Malachy Browne’s mother Mary “nearly tripped over herself with excitement” when he told her he was a Pulitzer Prize winner.

The Limerick man who is a New York Times journalist rang both his parents, David and Mary, at their home in Broadford on Monday to tell them of his achievement - the highest honour that US-based journalists and organisations can receive.

David answered the phone.

“As soon as we said hello to each other he said, ‘can I talk to mam?’

"I said ‘OK’. But he actually wanted to talk to both of us at the same time. He said to Mary ‘put on Dad too - I want the two of you to be with me’.” 

David thought to himself “Oh God, what has happened? Because he had never done this before.

“Then he just blurted it out that tonight he was getting a Pulitzer Prize with his team.”

“Mary nearly tripped over herself with the excitement,” smiled David.

Malachy and his team were acknowledged with the international reporting prize for a set of enthralling stories, reported at great risk, exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime. It also included Malachy’s documenting of a Russian bombing campaign in Syria.

In a tweet this Tuesday afternoon Malachy said: "Thanks for the incredible goodwill - we celebrate the recognition with you. Our contribution to this Pulitzer revealed Russia's heinous bombings of hospitals, markets, camps with evidence that may hold them to account. And it gave voice to the victims."

“It’s amazing to get that kind of news on days like this,” continued David of the award.  “We had an idea that something was happening. We were over with him just before the lockdown and he had said his work had gone to the Pulitzer adjudicators for consideration. Now, he is sort of very bland about these things in the sense that he doesn’t make a big deal about it - it’s like winning the local first round of the championship…. in handball!” he joked.

For the awards announcement The New York Times had a select few guests in the Zoom webinar. David and Mary were among them.

After the announcement David and Mary headed to their daughter Susan’s house, which is just around the corner from theirs, for a few drinks and they had a WhatsApp video call with Malachy.

“It was then we saw the big broad smile - he was delighted,” said David.

This year’s awards were initially due to be announced in April but were postponed due to the evolving coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners in 15 Journalism and seven Book, Drama and Music categories were announced online instead on Monday. 

Prize board administrator Dana Canedy declared the winners from her living room via a live stream on YouTube rather than at a ceremony at New York's Columbia University.

Malachy was dressed up to the nines in a dinner suit in his house in New Jersey for the announcement and was accompanied by his wife Siobhan, a native of Rathkeale, and their three children Diarmaid, Sarah, and Emmett.

“Sarah happened to sneak up behind him when he was making his contribution and waved,” said David.

Malachy of course is in lockdown in his home in New Jersey due to the coronavirus.

In early March before the lockdown he took his parents on a tour of The New York Times office.

“You go up to the 24th floor which is massive - huge, open plan. He introduced us to everyone and they all say he is awesome,” smiled David. “They are all energetic and all very pleasant people and they are all relatively young. He was very proud showing us around. It’s like a film set. 

“He leaves a sleepy town in New Jersey, a lovely, quiet neighborhood and he takes the train - he has about a three minute walk to the train - directly into Penn Station which is right beside Madison Square Garden. He gets out into a street teeming with people - so much noise, so much industry, so much crowds and he walks with his little suitcase,” said David, lowering his voice, “up the 8th Avenue for seven blocks and there he is at the door of The New York Times and he goes up the floors then.”

The whole journey from his home to his desk takes slightly less than an hour.

“He’s able to time the train to a second and when he can hear the train coming in, he has to sprint sometimes,” continued David who has taken the journey with his son a number of times.

Malachy is the first Limerick man to be honoured with a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. Another Limerick man, Frank McCourt, won a Pulitzer Prize for his book Angela's Ashes.

So what does uncle Vincent Browne (David’s brother) make of the Pulitzer win?”

“He is very pleased. He has an extraordinary interest in his progress,” said David.

Malachy, of course, got his grounding in the Vincent Browne Academy - the veteran broadcaster and journalist gave him an apprenticeship at Village, the current affairs and cultural magazine which ceased publication in 2008 before later relaunching under a new editor.

This isn’t the first major award for Malachy - in 2018 he and his team at The New York Times won an Emmy Award for an investigative film documentary into the Las Vegas massacre of 2017. He was also honoured with a Limerick Person of the Month award last year.

Malachy and his colleagues on the Visual Investigations team received several other awards in 2020, including the Polk Award for investigative international reporting, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for their Russia series, and two Overseas Press Club Awards for their investigations on Russia and similar outrages in Venezuela, Libya, and Afghanistan.