On Monday, April 16, a ceremony at Columbia University revealed that Matt Apuzzo ’00 and his colleagues from the Associated Press (AP), Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley, will receive a 2012 Pulitzer Prize for a distinguished example of investigative reporting.

Apuzzo and his colleagues won the award for their coverage of the New York Police Department’s covert surveillance program monitoring Muslim communities and the daily lives of their members. As a result, Apuzzo’s reporting has sparked congressional calls for federal investigation and a controversial debate over the scope of domestic intelligence gathering.

Just over a decade ago, Apuzzo covered sports for the Echo and worked at the sports desk at the Morning Sentinel. On the Hill, Apuzzo was a biology major on a pre-medicine track, but at 33-years old, he has covered some of the nation’s biggest stories for AP.

Apuzzo began his career at the New Bedford [Mass.] Standard-Times, covering organized crime and the police. From there, he started with the AP in Connecticut, where he reported on corruption in the state government. Apuzzo is now based in Washington, D.C., where he began as the legal affairs writer and now works on national security and intelligence matters. He has reported on Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia Tech shootings and the trial of White House aide Scooter Libby, among other major national events.

In 2007, Apuzzo told Colby Magazine, “This job is so much fun. You get a front row seat to history. How cool is that? It’s a blast.” Apuzzo and his colleagues are due to receive the award at a ceremony in late May in the Low Library at Columbia University.