It is with a big sigh and a high degree of relief that I make the above announcement to you. You see, after 57 years, I have finally made a foray into the world of the Pulitzer Prize! Let me explain, exactly, what this is all about!

During the spring of 1963 I was sitting in the cafeteria at HADLEY LUZERNE CENTRAL SCHOOL, in upstate New York, and was part of a somewhat serious conversation. I, and my fellow eighth graders, were discussing the fact that we were about to enter High School. That, naturally, led to what we anticipated we were going to do with the rest of our lives. As we were more or less going around the table, when it came to me I blurted out, “Well, I’m going to win the Pulitzer Prize.” A few eyebrows were raised, but nothing was said, and then Ken Fuller shared his future ambitions.

While Ken was talking, I, a tad bit bewildered, asked myself, “Where the smash did that come from?” Fortunately, for me, the next class period found me having a Study Hall, so I got a pass and mosied on down to the Library (I did a lot of moseying back in those days!). Sauntering up to the desk to where the librarian was sitting (Sauntering was my formal mode of moseying), I asked, “Miss Smith, what, exactly, is that Pulitzer Prize given for?”

“Why,” she replied with a smile, “that is a prestigious award for excellence in writing.”

At that point in time, I knew I was going to be a writer. More importantly, I knew I was going to win the Pulitzer Prize! I knew it when I graduated from HLCS and went to Plattsburgh State Teachers College. I knew it when I graduated from college and the placement office told me that with my degree I could teach school. I knew it when I spent seventeen years sending out Letters of Query, only to receive in return hundreds, nay thousands!, of Rejection Notices! I knew it when I was appearing in such publications as BEAR ESSENTIAL NEWS and AROUND THE LAKES.

I knew it when I was fifteen; When I was twenty; When I was thirty; When I was forty; When I was fifty; When I was sixty; When I was sixty-five; When I was sixty-eight; When I was sixty-nine. In fact, it was around the time that I turned sixty-nine that I turned to my wife and said, “You know, if I am going to win the Pulitzer Prize I guess I had better start writing something that would qualify for the prize. I mean, I am in good health and all, but I’m also no spring chicken and so I had better get to getting’” (My wife readily agreed with the part that I am no spring chicken!).

So, with that thought in mind, I went to their website to research what types of material would, in fact, qualify for consideration. As I read the list, I sat there almost numb! You see, one of the categories that you can apply in is auto-biography and, lo and behold, I had been working on just such a work for a number of years and was almost finished with it! GOD IS MY AGENT, (Available at godsgoodnewsgazette.com in the MORGAN WYNN BOOKSTORE), is the first half of my life story, and may very well be what fulfills the promise that was given me way back in 1963.

But you know what? If it isn’t “AGENT” that provides me with the prize, it will be something else that I write that will. I know this because of Psalm 37:4-5 – ⁴ Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. ⁵ Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. You see, for many years I believed that this meant that God will give us anything we want. The GOOD NEWS is, I was wrong! What it means is even much more special – – It means He will put the desires in your heart!!!! And, not only that, when He does He shall bring it to pass!!!! Now, you add to that Proverbs 21:1. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will,” and you can see why I have no doubt whatsoever that I will win the Pulitzer Prize! Now, if you accept the fact that in this instance “the king” is the Pulitzer Prize Selection Committee, while they may think they are picking the winner, their hearts are actually in the hand of the Lord, and he turneth it whithersoever he will!”

Tune in next May, when I may be telling you I AM A GENUINE, AUTHENTIC, BONAFIDE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER!!! And, if not next May, a May shortly thereafter!