Paul Giblin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize yesterday. What might otherwise be the most exciting event in a journalist’s life maybe dampened this year. You see Paul Giblin is out of work right now.

Once part of the East Valley Tribune staff in Phoenix, Arizona, Giblin was part a two person team that penned a prize winning five part series on one local sheriff’s ceaseless efforts to fight illegal immigration at the expense of other areas of law enforcement.

The series was published in July, then in October the paper reduced its staff by 40 percent, shrunk its distribution area and cut back publication to four days a week. Giblin&#151along with Patti Epler, the metro editor who oversaw the project&#151was let go.

Julie Moreno, publisher of the Tribune, told Portfolio, “Clearly, given the choices we faced, or given the situation, obviously it would be nice if the outcome was a little bit different, but I don’t think it diminishes at all, frankly, the excellent work they did on that project and the recognition they are justly receiving as a result.”

Things aren’t all bad though, earlier this year Giblin, along with his former editor Epler and two Tribune refugees, have launched the Arizona Guardian, a website covering Arizona politics and government.