I had gone out on assignment for *another* newspaper earlier in the day. As soon as I finished the assignment, I called the editor to say I was coming in with film unless he had something else for me to do. He said it was a slow day and I could FedEx it if I wanted, because it wasn't for this week.

Meanwhile, my pager goes off continuously, and the pages are from the Riverdale Press. I call the Press four or five times and there's no answer. Our deadline is today and all I can think of is that there's been some kind of horrible accident at worst, or at best, a picture needs rescanning. The Riverdale Press was firebombed in 1989 after an editorial that the publisher wrote on Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses."

Bernard L. Stein, speaks to reporters calling from all over the country, after the announcement of his Pulitzer prize for editorial writing.

© 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press

Bernard L. Stein, Co-publisher of The Riverdale Press, reacts to the news that he's won the Pulitzer prize.

© 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press

We never missed an issue and our publisher has twice been a Pulitzer finalist.

Alarmed, I finally call our subsidiary company, which is where we do all our pagination/prepress. They tell me to haul *** and get over to the Press because it's possible that our publisher has won a Pulitzer.

Going 70 on a 50 mph road, I nearly collide with other cell phone user in jeep next to me, (I used to hate people who used cellular phones in their cars!), just as traffic slows to a crawl on the Henry Hudson Parkway due to construction. Painfully, slowly, I make my way through the last bit of construction to the Broadway exit.

As I pull up to the paper, I hear the Pulitzers announced. Bernard L. Stein, co-publisher of The Riverdale Press has won for editorial writing. It's a day as fine as any I've ever had the privilege to be a part of in this business. Congratulations, Buddy.

Bernard Stein gets a kiss from his brother and co-publisher Richard, as their mom Ceil, looks on.

© 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press

Co-founder of The Riverdale Press Cecelia Stein shares an emotional moment with her son Bernard, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. © 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press