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2012 Prognostication Quiz: Question 5, Writing


5. Which newspaper will win the most Pulitzers?
a. The Washington Post
b. The New York Times
c. The Wall Street Journal
d. The Los Angeles Times
e. another paper will be named the most times

The New York Times won big again in the Pulitzer Prizes, garnering awards for Explanatory Reporting (David Kocieniewski, explaining how General Electric and others exploit loopholes in the tax code) and for International Reporting (Jeffrey Gettleman, covering famine and points of conflict in East Africa). This means that the answer to Question 5 of the 2012 Prognostication Quiz is B. The New York Times.

The Gray Ladies:

Matthew
Cherie
Sarah M.
Keila
Megan
Cameron
Kevin
Stacey
Gloria
Todd
Ekrem
Miriam
Russell
Zoe
Eric
Craig
Ben
Liz
Pete C.

Question 7, GOP

Who will win the Republican nomination?
a. Mitt Romney
b. Paul, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, or Santorum
c. a dark horse (anyone else)

Although it's not official until August, Mitt Romney has finally solidified support of the Republican Party and will win the nomination barring an assassin's bullet or (far more unlikely) someone happening upon an undiscovered skeleton in his squeaky-clean closet.

92% of Quiz entrants predicted that Mitt Romney would win the nomination. That was probably too much faith, given how hard it was for him to finally clinch the nomination. (Intrade hovered between 75% and 80% during most of this year and only topped 92% earlier this month.) Kudos, then, to those who sniffed out a good chance to bet on an underdog. I'm sorry you won't get points. If you're not listed, you won a point on Romney's back.

The anti-Romneyites:
Miriam (answer B)
Liz (answer B)
Tina (answer B)
Larry (a very bold but nearly right answer C)

Questions 13-15, Death

Long time, highly respected, and sometimes controversial 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace passed away earlier this month. That is sad for his family, but good for the four who predicted his demise.

The hard hitters:
Tom
Mary
Jeff
Hannah

Leaderboard

Suddenly, we have a massive 16-way tie for first place. This includes seven people (Matthew, Cherie, Sarah M., Megan, Stacey, Todd, and Ekrem) who have scored their three points in the last three questions (covering the Oscars, the Pulitzers, and the GOP nomination).

3 Matthew
3 Cherie
3 Tom
3 Sarah M.
3 Ellen
3 Keila
3 Grant
3 Megan
3 Cameron
3 Kevin
3 Peter M.
3 Stacey
3 Gloria
3 Todd
3 Mary
3 Ekrem
2 Sarah T.
2 Chris M.
2 Russell
2 Katie
2 Jeff
2 Adrian
2 Dave
2 Marcus
2 Zoe
2 Janet
2 Eric
2 Michael
2 Craig
2 Ben
2 Zhiqi
2 Leanne
2 Hannah
2 Pete C.
1 Miriam
1 Collette
1 Ryan
1 Peter B.
1 Chris C.
1 Nadir
1 Rachel
1 Beth
1 Paul
1 Jason
1 Ted
1 Jan
1 Missy
1 Valerie
1 Liz
0 Larry
0 Tina

Also of note

I had to remove the Tiger Woods question in this year's quiz because (wisely, it turns out) no one was picking him to win a major ever. Last month, Tiger looked like he might be starting a comeback when he won his first PGA Tour event since 2009. But then he had a horrible Masters tournament earlier this month.

I have already started writing next year's Quiz. I always enjoy input about questions. Let me know if there are any topics you would enjoy either adding or removing.

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