The 2026 Pulitzer Prizes were announced last week.

The honorees include a graduating senior at Western Kentucky University.

Go tops, majoring in photo journalism.

Our Laura Rogers spent time with the young winner, the first WKU student to win a Pulitzer Prize.

While still enrolled.

On the Hill.

Ever since I was a kid, I was always studying history.

The photos always stuck out to me, and that's what always resonated.

That sparked an interest in photojournalism for Dominic de Palermo, who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.

I fell in love with photography my freshman year in high school, and I wanted to continue my photojournalism education in a place with very distinguished alumni and a well known program.

That would be Western Kentucky University, whose award winning photojournalism program is often hailed as one of the best in the country.

Our program has turned out very strong storytellers over the years.

They're not out to win awards, they're just out to tell stories that need to be told.

And that kind of work eventually garners recognition.

That's already the case for Palermo, who learned last week just minutes before presenting his senior capstone presentation.

He had won a Pulitzer Prize.

I turned to my left and he's not sitting there anymore.

And I said, Where's Dom?

And one of his friends students?

So he left the room and I said, left the room.

He's next.

Tim Brockman was understanding when he learned why Dom had taken a quick moment to take in such big news.

And then he held up his phone and said, Chicago Tribune wins Pulitzer.

And I went, oh.

Staff of the Chicago Tribune.

It was a really surreal experience to have that just experience all those emotions with my classmates, with alum, that we're back judging our capstones and just the professors here, it was awesome.

Dominic de Palermo interned at the Chicago Tribune this past fall as federal immigration enforcement conducted Operation Midway Blitz, targeting undocumented immigrants, leading to arrests and protests.

They gave me assignments that were real and that they would give any other staff member.

Those assignments included covering everything from sports and parades to, yes, those Ice raids and protest at the Broadview Ice facility.

I was definitely nervous a couple times being in those ten situations.

The nerves were there and the adrenaline was there, but I knew how to keep myself safe.

Palermo says he's one of more than 75 Chicago Tribune staffers who collectively won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.

It was bittersweet because, yes, we brought a lot of issues to light as a team, and I was very proud of that.

And people got to see that in the suburbs, nationally, in the city.

But the subject matter wasn't necessarily the most awesome thing.

And so it's kind of juggling this, the joy of bringing that to people and having that coverage be widespread, but also remembering what we're covering and the gravity of that.

What the Tribune did is a really thorough, longform, investigative documentary approach to storytelling to really remember.

Roma has also previously won a Pulitzer, and his pride in Dominic's talent is evident.

Dom is one of those people that has been very diligent in his work.

I think local journalism is one of the most important things in this country.

He now officially becomes one of those local journalists telling visual stories that may inspire change or even just help us all understand each other a little better.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.