The Ames Daily Tribune staff huddled around reporter Michael McNarney’s desk. McNarney was manning the computer that flashed updates from The Associated Press in New York City.

The Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing was up for grabs.

Rumor had it that Tribune Editor Michael Gartner, a veteran newsman, was the winner.

Rumor was right.

But it wasn’t the computer that leaked the official word. It was the telephone, a device more likely to transmit a story in Gartner’s days as a Wall Street Journal copy editor than near the dawn of a new millennium.

With all eyes on McNarney’s computer screen shortly after 2 p.m. Monday in The Tribune’s newsroom, Gartner slipped away to take a call.

To applause, Garter turned and told the crowd that the president of Columbia University had just informed him that he was the winner of the annual Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

Late with the story was McNarney’s computer — by just a few seconds. But the crowd applauded then, too.

The Pulitzer Prize is considered journalism’s top award.

“I’m really pleased for the paper,” Gartner said at a reception following the announcement.

“I’m happy for [Tribune Publisher] Gary [Gerlach], who’s had to take all the grief that I’ve caused,” he added in jest.

Several Ames city officials were gathered in The Tribune office for the reception. Among them was Police Chief Dennis Ballantine.

“I wouldn’t have been able to win this award if this man favored lap dancing,” Gartner, again joking, said of Ballantine.

Gartner submitted several editorials that were evaluated by the Pulitzer committee, including one about a ban on lap dancing in Ames. The editorials were all written in 1996.

Gerlach struck a more serious tone. “It’s pretty clear to almost everyone who knows Michael that he is one of the few crown jewels of the state of Iowa,” he said. “Everybody here knows the Pulitzer Prize is the gold standard for journalistic excellence.”

The Washington Post and New York’s Poughkeepsie Journal were the other finalists for the award.

Pulitzer Prizes typically go to much larger daily newspapers than The Tribune. The last time an Iowa journalist won a Pulitzer Prize was in 1991, when The Des Moines Register won in the public service category for a series of articles about a rape victim.

Gartner is a frequent guest lecturer in journalism classes on the Iowa State campus. Giles Fowler, a professor of journalism, said Gartner’s achievement puts him in elite company.

“It’s striking pure gold. There’s no better affirmation of someone’s talent or brains than the Pulitzer Prize in our business,” Fowler said.

Gartner is the former president of NBC News, former editor of The Louisville Courier-Journal, former editor of The Des Moines Register and former page 1 editor of The Wall Street Journal.

He and Gerlach own The Tribune and several other Midwest newspapers.

Pulitzer Prizes include an award of $5,000, except for the public service award, which is a gold medal.

1997 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Public service — The Times-Picayune, New Orleans

Spot news reporting — staff of Newsday

Investigative reporting — Eric Nalder, Deborah Nelson and Alex Tizon, The Seattle Times

Explanatory journalism — Michael Vitez, Ron Cortes and April Saul, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Beat reporting — Byron Acohido, The Seattle Times

National reporting — staff of The Wall Street Journal

International reporting — John F. Burns, The New York Times

Feature writing — Lisa Pollak, The (Baltimore) Sun

Commentary — Eileen McNamara, The Boston Globe

Criticism — Tim Page, The Washington Post

Editorial writing — Michael Gartner, The Tribune

Editorial cartooning — Walt Handelsman, The Times-Picayune

Spot news photography — Annie Wells, The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Feature photography — Alexander Zemlianichenko, The Associated Press

Fiction — ”Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer,” by Steven Millhauser

Drama — no award

History — ”Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution,” by Jack N. Rakove

Biography — ”Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir,” by Frank McCourt

Poetry — ”Alive Together: New and Selected Poems,” by Lisel Mueller

General non-fiction — ”Ashes to Ashes: America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris,” by Richard Kluger

Music — ”Blood on the Fields,” by Wynton Marsalis