• The Associated Press won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, while the New York Times earned the international reporting honour for its stories about the Russian invasion.

• Washington Post reporter Caroline Kitchener won the national reporting prize for coverage of abortion in the United States after the Supreme Court last year overturned the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that had legalised the procedure nationwide.

• The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded to two class-conscious novels: ‘Demon Copperhead’, Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic ‘David Copperfield’, and Hernan Diaz’s ‘Trust’, an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. 

Pulitzer Prize

• The Pulitzer Prizes were established by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American journalist and newspaper publisher, who left money to Columbia University upon his death in 1911. A portion of his bequest was used to found the School of Journalism in 1912 and to establish the Pulitzer Prizes, which were first awarded in 1917.

• The 18-member Pulitzer Board is composed mainly of leading journalists or news executives from media outlets across the US, as well as five academics or persons in the arts. The dean of Columbia Journalism School and the administrator of the Prizes are non-voting members. The chair rotates annually to the most senior member or members. 

• The yearlong process begins with the appointment of distinguished jurors who make three recommendations in each category. 

• The Board makes the final decisions after evaluating all the finalists nominated by the juries and considering jury reports. Prizes are awarded by majority vote of the Board.

• The Gold Medal is awarded each year to the American news organisation that wins the Public Service Prize.

Some of the winners this year are:

Public Service

Associated Press, for the work of Mstyslav 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

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

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.

Breaking News Photography

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 organisations left, victims of the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the resilience of the Ukrainian people who were able to flee.

Books, Drama & Music

Fiction

‘Demon Copperhead’, by Barbara Kingsolver: 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.

‘Trust’, by Hernan Diaz: 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

‘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

‘Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power’, by Jefferson Cowie: 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

‘G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century’, by Beverly Gage: 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

‘Stay True’, by Hua Hsu: 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

‘Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020’, by Carl Phillips: 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.

Music

‘Omar’, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

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