UKRAINE COVERAGE DOMINATES PULITZERS
Associated Press receives prestigious public service prize
Coverage of the war in Ukraine dominated the Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, with The Associated Press winning two awards for its reporting and photography, including the prestigious public service prize, and The New York Times winning for a mix of news and investigative articles about the conflict.
The New York Times also won for illustrated reporting and commentary, for a piece by Mona Chalabi in The New York Times Magazine examining the wealth of Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos.
The AP’s journalists were the last from an international news organization to remain in the Ukrainian city Mariupol after it came under fire from Russian troops. They documented its fall before escaping. In addition to the public service award, considered the top prize, the news organization won the breaking news photography award for its coverage.
The Times was awarded the international reporting prize for coverage that included daily reporting on the war as well as an eightmonth investigation into the deaths of Ukrainians trying to flee from the town of Bucha that identified the Russian military unit responsible.
An Alabama news website, AL.com, received two Pulitzer Prizes. The organization was awarded the local news reporting prize for a series that revealed how the police force in a town, Brookside, inflated its revenue by increasing traffic citations and vehicle seizures.
AL.com also won the commentary prize for columns by Kyle Whitmire about Alabama’s Confederate history.
Another prize for local reporting was awarded to Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, for an investigation into a welfare scandal that revealed how former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant had steered funds to benefit family and friends, including former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.
The Los Angeles Times won the breaking news reporting prize for its coverage of a leaked audio recording of a secret conversation between Los Angeles City Council members in which the officials mocked people in racist terms and disparaged other council members. The uproar prompted the resignations of two of the leaders involved: Nury Martinez, the City Council president, and Ron Herrera, the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The Los Angeles Times also won in the feature photography category. Photographer Christina House was awarded the prize for her images of a pregnant 22-yearold woman living in a tent on the streets of Hollywood and trying to navigate her situation.
The national reporting award went to Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post for coverage of the consequences of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Washington Post also received the feature reporting prize, for work by Eli Saslow that portrayed the struggles of people across America.
A book by Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa was awarded the general nonfiction prize: “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.”
The investigative reporting prize was awarded to the staff of The Wall Street Journal for a series examining the financial investments of senior federal officials.
Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic was given the prize for explanatory reporting for her investigation into the Trump administration’s family separation policy.
The prize for criticism went to Andrea Long Chu, a critic at New York Magazine, for book reviews that examined both the works and their authors through multiple cultural lenses.
Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Costantino of the Miami Herald were awarded the prize for editorial writing for the “Broken Promises” series that showed how Florida leaders had failed to deliver on vows to improve communities.
The audio reporting prize was awarded to the staff of Gimlet Media, notably Connie Walker, for the podcast “Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s.”
Two books were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction: “Demon Copperhead,” by Barbara Kingsolver, and “Trust,” by Hernan Diaz. “Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power,” by Jefferson Cowie, received the award for history, and “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century,” by Beverly Gage, received the biography prize.
“Stay True,” by Hua Hsu, was awarded the prize for memoir, and “Then the War: And Selected Poems, 20072020,” by Carl Phillips, won for poetry.
“English,” a play by Sanaz Toossi, won the drama prize.
The prize in music was awarded to “Omar,” an opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.