Alexandra Berzon

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Las Vegas Sun

Interviewed June 9 at Panera at The District

How has winning the Pulitzer changed your life?

I don’t feel it has very much. The only major difference is that, right away after being informed I’d won, I got contacted by all the people I’ve ever met in my life. That was incredibly overwhelming. Problem is, I’m not the most organized person on the planet, and I don’t have a personal assistant [laughs], so keeping track of correspondence was a challenge. I’ve been asked to speak at a few events since then, and I’m not much of a public speaker, so that’s been challenging as well. But it’s been great realizing—and I always thought this about journalism—that if you expose something and tell it accurately that people will respond. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing with my life.

From a reporting perspective, have there been any individuals you had trouble getting a hold of in the past who now return your calls?

There was this one man, a stock analyst, who wouldn’t give me the time of day. The day of the announcement, I got an e-mail from him, that said something to the effect of, “I should have returned your phone calls.”

Has the impact of this news really hit you yet?

It’s been really cool to hear so many people in this city excited about it, but it hasn’t really hit me yet. I was in Amargosa Valley interviewing a farmer, and there was a photographer with me. He was describing something in his field, and he said, “It would be like you won a Pulitzer Prize or something.” The photographer and I looked at each other and laughed.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about winning this award?

That there’s money involved. But there’s no money prize for the category of Public Service. I’ve been contacted by financial planners, and I just say, “I have nothing to offer you.”