For a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality, Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).

Awarded to Tom Hallman Jr. of The Oregonian, Portland, for his poignant profile of a disfigured 14-year old boy who elects to have life-threatening surgery in an effort to improve his appearance.

Columbia University President George Rupp (left) presents Tom Hallman, Jr. with the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Robin Gaby Fisher of The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ, for her inspirational stories that chronicled the care and recovery of two students critically burned in a dormitory fire at Seton Hall University, and Richard E. Meyer of the Los Angeles Times for his elegant, insightful portrait of a Tennessee family whose son shot three people at his high school.