Thomas "Tom" Jeffrey Knudson (born 6 July 1953) is an American journalist and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in 1985 and 1992.

Biography

Thomas Jeffrey Knudson was born 6 July 1953 in the city of

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

in Carroll County,

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa, graduating the class of 1971. In 1980, he graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism from Iowa State University (ISU). After graduation in June 1980, Knudson joined

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...

as a full-time journalist. And later becoming the lead for the Iowa City news journal for The Des Moines Register. In 1985, Knudson created a series of articles published in The Des Moines Register that examined the occupational dangers of farming, including high cancer rates and machinery-related accidents. A number of his family members were farmers in the Manning-area, and when he was a boy, his cousin had been run over by a tractor. This article won him the 1985

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. Li ...

. Knudson's' "The Sierra in Peril," article was published in

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

which looked in depth at the environmental issues in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. He won the 1992

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalis ...

for this article.

References

1953 births Iowa State University alumni Journalists from Iowa Journalists from California Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners People from Carroll County, Iowa Living people {{US-journalist-1950s-stub