DESERET NEWS: NEW YORK CITY -- The Deseret News and one of its staff writers have won a Pulitzer Prize, the most coveted award in newspaper journalism, it was announced here Monday.
The award for local reporting under deadline pressure went to Robert D. (Bob) Mullins, manager of the Deseret News Carbon County Bureau in Price.With the distinction goes a $1,000 prize . . . Mullins was cited for his "resourceful covereage of a murder and kidnaping at Dead Horse Point, Utah.
Mullins worked on the sensational case last summer for eight days, from the slaying of a Connecticut woman, the wounding of a companion and the kidnaping of her daughter, until the accused slayer killed himself. During the coverage, Mullins traveled more than 1,800 miles in some of the roughest terrain in Utah, and worked up to 30 hours at a stretch without sleep. He never missed a deadline.
For months after traveling to New York to receive the prestigious award, Mullins was feted and recognized by local, regional and national organizations for his accomplishment. It was a heady time for a man who was essentially an "aw shucks" kind of news guy who just happened to have a great talent for latching onto a story and never letting go.