Former IDS editor receives Pulitzer for feature writing

By Susan Williams

April 14 was a huge day for the numerous IU alumni working at the St. Petersburg Times. That Tuesday, one of their own, Thomas French, staff writer for the Times, was announced the recipient of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

French, who was spring editor of the Indiana Daily Student in 1980, received the prize for a seven-part series entitled "Angels and Demons." The series contrasted the 1989 murders of an Ohio woman and her two teenaged daughters, abducted and killed while on vacation in Florida, with the fantasy land image promoted by the state to tourists.

"There are a lot of happy Hoosiers here," Paul Tash, executive editor of the Times and another IU alumnus, told the Indiana Daily Student. "I think it demonstrates the power of a compelling tale in the hands of a very skilled writer. Tom has done us proud, and the (IU) School of Journalism should take pride also."

French is a native of Indianapolis and a graduate of Pike High School. Journalism is a French family pursuit. Linda, his wife, was copy chief at the IDS, and his brother, Ben, a senior at IU now, was editor-in-chief last semester.