Anne Hull of the Washington Post wrote a four-part series of articles last September called "Being Young and Gay in Real America." Part 1 and Part 2 of her series focused on Michael Shackelford, an initially-closeted 16-year-old gay kid in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and how coming out affected his life, his family, and his community. I talked about it here and here.

Comes now the list of 2005 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, and Hull was cited as a finalist in the Feature Writing category "for her clear, sensitive, tirelessly reported stories on what it means to be young and gay in modern America." The prize itself was "awarded to Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune for her gripping,meticulously reconstructed account of a deadly 10-second tornado that ripped through Utica, Ill."

Even so, extended congratulations to Hull, the Shackelford family, and everyone else who made that extraordinary series happen. If you never read them, go fix that. Now.