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The Pulitzer awardees are chosen by an independent administrative board appointed by Columbia University. Joseph Pulitzer had left a sum of $500000, to Columbia University. A little portion of this sum was used to establish an institute called the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, in New York City. The recipients of the award in twenty different categories receive a sum of $10000 as a cash prize and the winner in public service journalism, a newspaper always, receives a gold medal.
However, there are certain criteria for applications pertaining to entries in the Pulitzer Prize. Only the individuals with United States citizenship are eligible to apply for the categories of Pulitzer Prize in Books, Drama and Music (with the exception in the history category, in which the entry should be related to the United States history but the author could be of any nationality). For entries pertaining to the journalism category, the participants may be of any nationality, but again the entry should have been published in a U.S. newspaper, magazine or news site that is known to publish consistently
Categories
The Pulitzer award is bestowed for the following categories:
- Journalism
- Public Service
- Breaking News Reporting
- Investigative Reporting
- Explanatory Reporting
- Local Reporting
- National Reporting
- International Reporting
- Feature Writing
- Commentary
- Criticism
- Editorial Writing
- Editorial Cartooning
- Breaking News Photography
- Feature Photography
- Fiction
- Drama
- History
- Biography or Autobiography
- Poetry
- General Non-Fiction
- Music
Administration
Every year, more than 2000 entries are submitted to the Pulitzer entry website. These are received by the jurors.
Around 77 editors, publishers, writers and educators are chosen in February and gather in the School of Journalism to evaluate the entries in the fourteen journalism categories.
Out of close to 2500 entries submitted for the Pulitzer prize, only 21 awards are bestowed. These are decided by the close and careful evaluation of the entries by the 102 distinguished individuals, who serve on 20 different juries and are asked to nominate three entries for each of 21 categories. These are appointed every year.
In entries pertaining to photography, a single jury decides both the Breaking News category and the Feature category.
The enlarging number of entries have compelled the administrative board to increase the number of members to seven in each jury.
The final decision is made in early April, in the assembly of Board members in the Pulitzer World Room of Columbia School of Journalism. The members of the Board evaluate every nominated entry prior to the assembly.
The Prizes are decided upon by vote, but the Administrative Board also holds certain special powers. The names of the recipients are kept confidential till the final announcement of results, which takes place several days after the assembly in the Pulitzer World Room.
Pulitzer Awards 2020
The following is the list of recipients of the Pulitzer Prize in several categories for the year 2020:
- Public Service- Anchorage Daily News with contributions from ProPublica.
- Breaking News Reporting-Staff of the Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
- Investigative Reporting- Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
- Explanatory Reporting- Staff of The Washington Post
- Local Reporting- Staff of The Baltimore Sun
- National Reporting-
- Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of the Seattle Times
- T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Fatirechi of ProPublica
- International Reporting- Staff of The New York Times
- Feature Writing- Ben Taub of the New Yorker
- Commentary-Nikole Hannah Jones of The New York Times
- Criticism- Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
- Editorial Writing- Jeffery Gerrit of Palestine (TX.) And Herald Press
- Editorial Cartooning- Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
- Breaking News Photography- Photography staff of Reuters
- Feature Photography- Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of Associated Press
- Audio Reporting- Staff of This American Life with Molly O ‘Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News
- Fiction- The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead(Doubleday)
- Drama- A Strange Loop, by Michael R. Jackson
- History- Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
- Biography- Sontag: Her Life and Work, by Benjamin Moser (Eco)
- Poetry – The Tradition, by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
- General Non-Fiction-
- The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
- The Undying Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care, by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Music- The Central Park Five, by Anthony Davis
- Special Awards and Citations- Ida B. Wells.
Pulitzer Awards 2021
The Pulitzer awards in 2021 were bestowed to the following recipients under the specified category:
- Public Service- The New York Times
- InvestigativeReporting- Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of the Boston Globe
- Breaking News Reporting- Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn
- Explanatory Reporting-
- Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jami Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters
- Ed Yong of The Atlantic
- Local Reporting- Kathleen McGory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times
- National Reporting- Staff of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago
- International Reporting- Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Busiek of BuzzFeed News
- Feature Writing-
- Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributors Runner’s World
- Nadja Drost, freelance contributor, The California Sunday Magazine
- Commentary- Michael Paul Williams of Richmond (VA.) Times-Dispatch
- Criticism- Wisely Morris of The New York Times
- Editorial Writing- Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times
- Editorial Cartooning- No award given.
- Breaking News Photography- Photography staff of Associated press
- Feature Photography- Emilio Morenatti of Associated Press
- Audio Reporting- Lisa Hagen of WABE, Atlanta, Chris Haxel of KCUR, Kansas City, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio.
- Fiction- The Night Watchman by Louis Erdrich(Harper)
- Drama- The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall
- History- Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, by Marcia Chatelain
- Biography- The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by the late Last Payne and Tamara Payne
- Poetry- Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
- General Nonfiction- Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Could of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
- Music- Stride, by Tania Leon
- Special Awards and Citations- Darnella Frazier
Conclusion
The Pulitzer Awards are considered to be highly significant in the fields of journalism, literature and music composition. The Pulitzer Awards were started in the year 1917, by Joseph Pulitzer and the tradition is continued till date, awarding the extraordinary personalities in the fields of journalism, literature and music composition.
