Herald photographer Pat Farrell wins Pulitzer Prize

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UPDATE: I spoke with Farrell by phone briefly this afternoon and asked him a few questions:

Did he think winning journalism's most prestigious award would change his life?

In what way he asked?

Well, I responded, maybe you'll be asked to speak to different groups.

Farrell responded that would only happen once. "After they hear me speak, I won't be asked to return," he said with a chuckle. Farrell also allowed that he doesn't have a "huge ego."

Today's announcement wasn't a total surprise.

He'd been tipped he might win and said that his parents drove down from Orlando to join him in the newsroom when the 3pm announcement was made. Also with Farrell was his wife Jodi and their two daughters, Annie, 10 and Lucy 8.

I asked him if he thought today of Franz Samedi, the grief stricken father he'd photographed clutching the body of his dead daughter in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

"He's hard to forget," said Farrell. "Those images are seared into my memory."

And everyone else too, Pat.

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At a few minutes past 3pm today, Miami Herald photographer Patrick Farrell's life changed forever.

That's when Farrell, 49, learned he'd won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News photography. The Pulitzer board's citation reads:

"Awarded to Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald for his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti."

Farrell's Pulitzer is the 20th for the Herald since it was awarded its first Pulitzer in 1951, and the paper's fourth in this decade alone.

Miami Herald photographer Patrick Farrell
Farrell's Pulitzer entry contains images shot over the course of four reporting trips to Haiti following the devastating hurricanes that ravaged the island last year.

Luis Rios, the Herald's director of photography, says of Farrell's work:

''Patrick's photography is the most provocative and at times disturbing storytelling work that I have seen or edited."

Ironically, Rios's position as director of photography was eliminated in the last round of job cuts to sweep through the Herald.

And eight months ago I noted that Farrell's images were probably some of the most gripping and shocking ever published in the paper.

(Farrell's Haiti images can be seen here).

Back in September, Farrell called his wife from Haiti during a break and told her that the couple's two daughters weren't far from his mind as he worked.

I don't know Pat all that well, but I'm pretty sure he stopped for just a moment today to think about Frantz Samedi, (above) whose life also changed forever last September.