2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners
After a year of remote work, newsrooms gather to celebrate
After a year of remote work, newsrooms gather to celebrate . . . . .
On June 11, newsrooms gathered virtually and, in some cases, in person as Pulitzer Prize Board co-chairs Mindy Marqués and Stephen Engelberg revealed this year’s list of winners on a live stream. Despite a tough year for newsrooms, the Pulitzer Board did not see a drop in submissions. In fact, Marqués said they received 1,173 total entries for 2021, which is a slight increase compared to the past two years.
Originally scheduled for April, the announcement was delayed due to the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine (Pulitzer Board members wanted to safely meet in-person for deliberations). Since the announcement was moved from April to June, many newsroom staffs were also able to get vaccinated so they could watch the announcement and celebrate in-person together.
This year, there were 16 winners in the 15 journalism categories with a special citation award issued to Darnella Frazier “for courageously recording the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice.” For a complete list of winners, visit pulitzer.org.
This fall, the Pulitzer Board plans to honor the 2020 and 2021 winners in a joint inperson ceremony at Columbia University in New York City.
“We know that every journalist dreams of being able to walk across the stage and get their diploma, so we’re hoping that if conditions allow it, we’ll be able to hold a dual celebration,” Marqués said. “The social component is really important. We want to give winners their moment, but also celebrate the fact that people can once again gather in person.”
As we continue to navigate a year full of uncertainty, E&P asked Marqués and Engelberg what they anticipate for next year’s Pulitzer Prizes. Although they both admit there is a benefit to virtual meetings, they expect the judging process to return to inperson meetings if it is safe to do so.
As for coverage, Marqués thinks COVID-19 and racial equity will still be prominent topics, and perhaps the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Fla. will also produce Pulitzer Prize-worthy content.
For Engelberg, it’s almost “impossible” to know. “But I predict to you that when you look at the finalist list nine months from now, you will remember this conversation and go, ‘Wow, that wasn’t right at all.’”
If 2020 taught us anything, it's to always expect the unexpected.
A RETURN TO CELEBRATIONS
The New York Times won the Pulitzer
Prize for Public Service for “coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that exposed racial and economic inequities, government failures in the U.S. and beyond, and filled a data vacuum that helped local governments, healthcare providers, businesses and individuals to be better prepared and protected.” In addition, Wesley Morris, critic at large for the Times, won the prize for Criticism for “unrelentingly relevant and deeply engaged criticism on the intersection of race and culture in America.”
On the day of the announcement, a small group of editors and winners gathered in the newsroom, according to a Times spokesperson. The newsroom also live-streamed the event to the entire company, which included comments from publisher A.G. Sulzberger, editors, and winners.
During the event, executive editor Dean Baquet acknowledged the hard work of the newsroom. “I just want to pause for a moment on the full power of these prizes and what they say about what you accomplished in a year when many of you suffered from your own loss and disruption. Literally hundreds of people had a hand in this coverage.”
Baquet also recognized that the Times’ COVID-19 tracker was a major part of their entry. “At a time when the country and the world needed you to do what government sometimes failed to do—to keep count, to mourn, to explain—you did it with power.”
According to graphics director Archie
Tse, more than 100 people from across the company contributed to the tracker. The newsroom also hired 50 freelancers and students to help compile the data.
“The project is a testament to how we have transformed ourselves into a newsroom ready to tackle an unimaginable story with new tools and new ways of working,” Tse said at the gathering.
The Tampa Bay Times’ deputy editor of investigations Kathleen Mcgrory and former investigative reporter Neil Bedi (now a Propublica reporter) won a Pulitzer Prize in the Local Reporting category for “Targeted,” an investigation into a sheriff ’s initiative that used computer modeling to identify people believed to be future crime suspects. The work
prompted several key developments including the proposal of two bills to curb the policing tactics used by the Sheriff ’s Office. This is the 13th Pulitzer Prize the Times has won, and the third award in this category.
“Winning in the local category is just a huge honor because local reporting is at the heart of what we do,” Mcgrory said. “We are a newspaper that reports on what’s going on in our Tampa Bay region and to be recognized for that is very special. It also speaks to the importance of investigative reporting.”
Because the Times’ newsroom is still closed, a small group gathered in Mcgrory’s home to watch the announcement. They included Bedi, executive editor Mark Katches, former deputy editor of investigations Adam Playford, and Times Publishing Co. chairman and CEO Paul Tash. Additionally, Mcgrory’s investigations team, photographer Douglas Clifford and lead video producer Jennifer Glenfield, who worked on the project, were present.
Later in the day after the win was announced, there was an in-person celebration at the Poynter Institute, owner of the Times. The entire newsroom gathered in the outdoor courtyard, and for many of them, it was the first time they had been together since the pandemic closed the newsroom last year.
“Winning a Pulitzer Prize is a special moment, not only for the reporters, but for everybody in the newsroom,” Mcgrory said. “We’ve all been remote for many months like many journalists across the country, chronicling several of the most important stories of our lives, and it’s been challenging to say the least, so it was nice for everybody to have that opportunity to come together and celebrate a year’s worth of really outstanding journalism.”
In Minneapolis, Minn., the staff of the Star Tribune, which won in the Breaking News Reporting category for its coverage of the death of George Floyd and the aftershocks, had a congratulatory video call with the staff following the announcement.
But a few days later, the staff were able to gather together in person to celebrate the win. Editor Rene Sanchez told E&P that most of the staff—now fully vaccinated—made it to the gathering. After working remotely for more than a year, “it felt like a reunion,” he said.
When asked what the win means for the
Star Tribune, Sanchez said, “The staff was deeply grateful to be honored for this coverage, but we all know we cannot lose sight of how