For more than 100 years, the Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded by Columbia University to honor American achievements in journalism, letters and drama, and music. Pulitzers are widely recognized as the most prestigious awards in their field within the United States.
The 107th Pulitzer prizes celebrated journalists across the country. The Associated Press won two awards for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, including the most prestigious of all Pulitzers, the Public Service award.
The Washington Post won two Pulitzers, as did the Los Angeles Times. So did Al.com, Birmingham. Its columnist Kyle Whitmire won the Commentary award for his work analyzing Alabama's confederate heritage. The publication also took home a Local Reporting Pulitzer for its series exposing malfeasance on the part of the local police force. Two awards were given in that category. The other Local Reporting Pulitzer went to Mississippi Today, in Ridgeland, Miss. Reporter Anna Wolfe's reporting revealed a former governor's corruption.
The New York Times won two Pulitzers as well, for International Reporting and for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.
Caitlin Dickerson, whose reporting career began at NPR, won a Pulitzer for explanatory reporting for her work for The Atlantic. She reported on migrant families separated at the southern border and the abuses many of them suffered.
This year, in an unusual but not unheard of decision, the fiction award went to two books: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Trust by Hernan Diaz.
And while the book His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (Viking) was only a finalist in the biography category, it won a Putlizer in the the General Nonfiction category, almost exactly three years after its subject's murder.
Here are the 2023 winners:
Prizes in Journalism
Public Service
"Awarded to Associated Press for the work of Mystyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant, courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Breaking News Reporting
"Awarded to the Staff of the Los Angeles Times for revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments, followed by coverage of the rapidly resulting turmoil and deeply reported pieces that delved further into the racial issues affecting local politics."
Investigative Reporting
"Awarded to the Staff of The Wall Street Journal for sharp accountability reporting on financial conflicts of interest among officials at 50 federal agencies, revealing those who bought and sold stocks they regulated and other ethical violations by individuals charged with safeguarding the public's interest."
Explanatory Reporting
"Awarded to Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic for deeply reported and compelling accounting of the Trump administration policy that forcefully separated migrant children from their parents, resulting in abuses that have persisted under the current administration."
Local Reporting
"Awarded to John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens of AL.com, Birmingham, for a series exposing how the police force in the town of Brookside preyed on residents to inflate revenue, coverage that prompted the resignation of the police chief, four new laws and a state audit."
"Awarded to Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, Ridgeland, Miss., for reporting that revealed how a former Mississippi governor used his office to steer millions of state welfare dollars to benefit his family and friends, including NFL quarterback Brett Favre."
National Reporting
"Awarded to Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post, for unflinching reporting that captured the complex consequences of life after Roe v. Wade, including the story of a Texas teenager who gave birth to twins after new restrictions denied her an abortion."
International Reporting
"Awarded to the Staff of The New York Times, for their unflinching coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings."
Feature Writing
"Awarded to Eli Saslow of The Washington Post for evocative individual narratives about people struggling with the pandemic, homelessness, addiction and inequality that collectively form a sharply-observed portrait of contemporary America."
Commentary
"Awarded to Kyle Whitmire of AL.com, Birmingham, for measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama's Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion, told through tours of its first capital, its mansions and monuments–and through the history that has
been omitted."
Criticism
"Awarded to Andrea Long Chu of New York magazine for book reviews that scrutinize authors as well as their works, using multiple cultural lenses to explore some of society's most fraught topics."
Editorial Writing
"Awarded to Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Costantino of the Miami Herald for a series of editorials on the failure of Florida public officials to deliver on many taxpayer-funded amenities and services promised to residents over decades."
Illustrated Reporting and Commentary
"Awarded to Mona Chalabi, contributor, The New York Times for striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos."
Breaking News Photography
"Awarded to the Photography Staff of Associated Press for unique and urgent images from the first weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the devastation of Mariupol after other news organizations left, victims of the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the resilience of the Ukrainian people who were able to flee."
Feature Photography
"Awarded to Christina House of the Los Angeles Times for an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street in a tent–images that show her emotional vulnerability as she tries and ultimately loses the struggle to raise her child."
Audio Reporting
"Awarded to the Staff of Gimlet Media, notably Connie Walker, whose investigation into her father's troubled past revealed a larger story of abuse of hundreds of Indigenous children at an Indian residential school in Canada, including other members of Walker's extended family, a personal search
for answers expertly blended with rigorous investigative reporting."
Letters and Drama Prizes
Fiction
"Awarded to Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper), a masterful recasting of David Copperfield, narrated by an Appalachian boy whose wise, unwavering voice relates his encounters with poverty, addiction, institutional failures and moral collapse—and his efforts to conquer them."
"Awarded to Trust, by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead Books), a riveting novel set in a bygone America that explores family, wealth and ambition through linked narratives rendered in different literary styles, a complex examination of love and power in a country where capitalism is king."
Drama
"Awarded to English," by Sanaz Toossi, a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a new language that may alter their identities and also represent a
new life."
History
"Awarded to Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, by Jefferson Cowie (Basic Books), a resonant account of an Alabama county in the 19th and 20th centuries shaped by settler colonialism and slavery, a portrait that illustrates the evolution of white supremacy by drawing powerful connections between anti-government and racist ideologies."
Biography
"Awarded to G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage (Viking), a deeply researched and nuanced look at one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. history that depicts the longtime FBI director in all his complexity, with monumental achievements and
crippling flaws."
Memoir or Autobiography
"Awarded to Stay True, by Hua Hsu (Doubleday), an elegant and poignant coming of age account that considers intense, youthful friendships but also random violence that can suddenly and permanently alter the presumed logic of our personal narratives."
Poetry
"Awarded to Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020, by Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a masterful collection that chronicles American culture as the country struggles to make sense of its politics, of life in the wake of a pandemic, and of our place in a changing global community."
General Nonfiction
"Awarded to His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (Viking), an intimate, riveting portrait of an ordinary man whose fatal encounter with police officers in 2020 sparked an international movement for social change, but whose humanity and complicated personal story were unknown."
Prize in Music
Awarded to Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, premiered on May 27, 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., an innovative and compelling opera about enslaved people brought to North America from Muslim countries, a musical work that respectfully represents African as well as African American traditions, expanding the language of the operatic form while conveying the humanity of those condemned to bondage.
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