The family of Carolynne St. Pierre faced the ultimate grief. Despite her courage, a rare cancer was killing a mother and wife long before her time. Yet she and her husband Rich invited photographer Preston Gannaway and reporter Chelsea Conaboy to chronicle Carolynne's death and its impact on their family.

The two Monitor journalists were there before and during Carolynne's death, and they returned to cover its difficult aftermath. They spent two years on the story. Rich St. Pierre referred to them as "gentle observers of our most private moments."

Yesterday, for her work on "Remember Me," Gannaway won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.

Like much of the journalism we do, the St. Pierre project required that members of the community trust in our ability to tell an important human story. As we at the Monitor celebrate this historic moment for the newspaper, we also recognize our debt to the spirit of Carolynne St. Pierre and to Rich and his family. They have our deepest gratitude.

Gannaway's winning Pulitzer entry included 19 of the photographs we published last year. The photos are candid, beautiful, intimate, heart-wrenching and sensitive. Five are reprinted in today's paper, and readers can see a multimedia presentation of the project and read Conaboy's fine stories at concordmonitor.com. The photo entry sent to the Pulitzer Prize board is also available on the site.

Because the Pulitzer Prize photo categories do not allow accompanying stories, we entered Gannaway's portfolio alone. It was one of 79 entries in feature photography. A jury of top photojournalism figures from around the country whittled the field to three finalists. Last week, the Pulitzer board chose Gannaway's entry as the winner.

Dan Habib, the Monitor's recently departed photo editor, was a member of the five-person Pulitzer photography jury. I was the co-chairman of the Pulitzer board. These circumstances move me to explain a few things about Pulitzer procedures.

The newspapers of a great majority of Pulitzer jurors and board members enter the annual competition. The decision process includes stringent rules to keep jurors and board members from participating in decisions concerning their own newspapers.

Habib had to leave the room whenever the photography jury discussed Gannaway's entry. The other photojournalism jurors, including journalists from The New York Times, the Austin American-Statesman and The Miami Herald, selected it as a finalist.

The other two finalists were the Associated Press, for photographs of the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese children decades after the U.S. war there, and the Dallas Morning News, for photographs of Texans living with want in a wealthy state.

After reading and viewing all the finalists, the 18-member Pulitzer board chooses the prize winners in letters, drama, music and journalism - a total of 21 categories. The board met last week in the World Room at the journalism school at Columbia University in New York. Because this was my ninth and final year on the board, I chaired the meeting.

Our recusal rules mean that we almost never have a full board for a decision in journalism. If one finalist is from your newspaper or even a newspaper owned by the same company as yours, you must recuse yourself and leave the room. In 13 of 14 journalism categories this year, at least one member recused himself or herself.

As always, feature photography was the final category the board considered. When it came up, I left the room and sat in a hallway with another recused board member, Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of the Associated Press. As the board deliberated, she and I talked about matters other than feature photography. In fact, not once during the three days of the meeting did any other board member even mention the Monitor finalist to me. This is standard practice. (next page »)