Concrete Jungle

Chapter 24

"Say what now?"
"You and 'Witness' have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Best Journalism!" Kathy repeated herself as Sasha gasped in shock.
"B-b-but how? Are you sure?" Was all Sasha could manage to stutter out.
"Both of our CEO's wrote in entries to nominate you to the main committee last month. There are many entries of course and we'll only find out in June if you won, but yeah, you're a nominee. I mean even if you don't win--which I think you will--just being nominated is a huge deal!" Kathy said confidently.
"I have no words, this is beyond...." Sasha drifted off as Kathy chuckled on her end; she had predicted Sasha's reaction to a T.
"Anyways, just wanted to call and say congratulations!"
"Thank you....I think."

They hung up shortly after that and Sasha just stared into space. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would get nominated for a Pulitzer for her work. A Pulitzer Prize was like the Academy Award of writing and to just be nominated was going to send her notoriety into the stratosphere. Sasha nearly forgot to finish making lunch for herself but slowly went about doing that. She decided to call her parents and tell them but also make sure it was a secret. Meanwhile, NatGeo sent a global to all of its employees domestically and internationally, also congratulating Sasha on the nomination but asking that everyone keep it under wraps as Sasha still had much work to do and didn't need to be hounded by reporters and such. When Ben and Rahel got the email, they were elated for her and quickly reached out to connect. It was a few days later and she had just left her parents place after a quiet celebration of the matter.

"Congratulations, Sasha! That's so amazing! We're so proud of you!" Ben exclaimed first.
"When I first got the email, I yelled so loud, I think I scared half of my apartment building. Congratulations, Sasha!" Rahel said exuberantly as the other two laughed at the image.
"Thanks guys. I just left my parents place and we had a little celebration with the entire family."
"How'd they take it?" Ben asked kindly.
"Over the moon would be an understatement. We didn't go into too much detail for Mark and George, just that I was nominated for an important award for one of my stories and we would know in June if I won or not. They were both very happy."
"I think you're going to win!" Rahel said confidently. Ben thought the same but didn't say as much.
"Not necessarily, I mean each year there are a lot of great submissions." Sasha replied humbly shaking her head.
"Great, totally. But nothing like yours. 'Witness' is one of a kind and purely original." Sasha just smiled because just being nominated was already a huge career accomplishment, she didn't want to think that she could possibly win. That was way too overwhelming. Just then Ben got her attention:
"I told Vasily about it and he also extends his heartfelt congratulations; but he reminded me of something and wanted me to double check with you. The Pulitzer Prize comes from Columbia University, right? And that's your alma mater for both undergrad and grad schools, correct?"
"Yes, he's right on both counts. The Pulitzer Prize was created back in 1917 at Columbia by Dr. Joseph Pulitzer. And I got both degrees in journalism from there, so it's kind of interesting that I got the nomination from my own school in a sense."
"Oh then you'll definitely win! Plus it's 2017, so the prize will be 100 years old this year. Think about how awesome that is!" Rahel said completely sure of herself in her prediction as the other two laughed.
"Wow, you're right, it does turn 100 this year. I totally didn't even think of that." Sasha replied with wonder.
"Rahel, if you get tired of photography, you can try your hand at fortune telling. You seem to be pretty good at it." Ben teased and the three of them laughed.

They hung up shortly thereafter. For the rest of January and a bit of February, Sasha hung around the office and wrote small pieces to be put into an issue here and there. Then in mid February she got a wonderful opportunity to work with Rahel again by going to Egypt and writing about the pyramids and the tombs of the pharaohs. The two met up in Cairo at the end of February and hugged like sisters reuniting after many years apart. The entire expedition would last until mid April and Sasha spent her 37th Birthday with Rahel and a group of fantastic archeologists in the desert celebrating and staring at the giant pyramids in wonder. It was a clear night, the Milky Way and every other star was visible as both she and Rahel took as many photos of the stunning wonders as possible.