Pulitzer hoax targets city's poet laureate

from EXPOSITOR

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1165637

America's highest literary honour has been sullied in an Internet scam affecting writers, including Brantford's poet laureate, John B. Lee.

The acclaimed author is still smarting after an e-mail saying he had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize turned out to be a cruel hoax.

"I had a little sliver of hope," he admitted in a telephone interview from his Port Dover cottage. "The humiliation is quite galling.

"I wonder, 'Why me, of all Canadians? How did they come across my name?'"

The message arrived in his in-box on Aug. 10. Headlined Pulitzer Prize 2009, it told Lee he is a nominated finalist and asks him to "contact us and get the requisite details germane to your participation without further delay."

An attachment explains that the Pulitzer -- in reality only open to U. S. citizens -- has been widened to include a "global representation of competition participants."

The e-mail bore the name of Paul Tash, editor, chairman and CEO of the St. Petersburg Times newspaper and a member of the Pulitzer's board of directors.

Lee did not reply to the e-mail.

But it turns out that so-called nominees are asked to forward a "handling fee" of 1,555 Euros, said Sig Gussler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

"As far as we know, nobody lost any money," Gussler said in a telephone interview from Columbia University in New York City. Many victims were suspicious of the e-mails immediately, or were quickly tipped off once the handling fee was mentioned.

"It's a pretty clumsy scam. Most people spotted it as a hoax."