April 17 (UPI) — Columbia University on Monday announced the winners of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize, including rapper Kendrick Lamar and newspapers including The New York Times and The Arizona Republic.
News organizations won for high-impact stories ranging from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, to Donald Trump‘s presidency to the heroin epidemic.
Named for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, the awards are given in 21 categories covering music, books and a variety of fields in journalism.
Public service
The New York Times and The New Yorker
“For explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators, including allegations against one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, bringing them to account for long-suppressed allegations of coercion, brutality and victim silencing, thus spurring a worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women.”
Finalist: The Kansas City Star
Breaking news reporting
The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
“For lucid and tenacious coverage of historic wildfires that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, expertly utilizing an array of tools, including photography, video and social media platforms, to bring clarity to its readers — in real time and in subsequent in-depth reporting.”
Finalists: Houston Chronicle, The New York Times
Investigative reporting
Winner: The Washington Post
“For purposeful and relentless reporting that changed the course of a Senate race in Alabama by revealing a candidate’s alleged past sexual harassment of teenage girls and subsequent efforts to undermine the journalism that exposed it.”
Finalists: Carol Marbin Miller and Audra D.S. Burch of the Miami Herald and Tim Eberly of The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Explanatory reporting
The Arizona Republic and USA Today Network
“For vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump’s pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.”
Finalists: Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times, staff of ProPublica
Local reporting
The Cincinnati Enquirer
“For a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati’s heroin epidemic, revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities.”
Finalists: The Boston Globe; Jason Grotto, Sandhya Kambhampati and Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune; and ProPublica Illinois
National reporting
The New York Times and The Washington Post
“For deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the president-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”
Finalists: Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter of Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and Brett Murphy of USA Today Network
International reporting
Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters
“For relentless reporting that exposed the brutal killing campaign behind Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte‘s war on drugs.”
Finalists: Associated Press and BuzzFeed News
Feature writing
Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah of GQ
“For an unforgettable portrait of murderer Dylann Roof, using a unique and powerful mix of reportage, first-person reflection and analysis of the historical and cultural forces behind his killing of nine people inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.”
Finalists: John Woodrow Cox of The Washington Post and Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times
Commentary
John Archibald of the Alabama Media Group
“For lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance in scrutinizing corrupt politicians, championing the rights of women and calling out hypocrisy.”
Finalists: Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker and Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times
Criticism
Jerry Saltz of New York
“For a robust body of work that conveyed a canny and often daring perspective on visual art in America, encompassing the personal, the political, the pure and the profane.”
Finalists: Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times
Editorial writing
Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register
“For examining in a clear, indignant voice, free of cliché or sentimentality, the damaging consequences for poor Iowa residents of privatizing the state’s administration of Medicaid.”
Finalists: The New York Times and Sharon Grigsby of The Dallas Morning News
Editorial cartooning
Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan of The New York Times
“For an emotionally powerful series, told in graphic narrative form, that chronicled the daily struggles of a real-life family of refugees and its fear of deportation.”
Finalists: Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press and Mark Fiore
Breaking news photography
Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress
“For a chilling image that reflected the photographer’s reflexes and concentration in capturing the moment of impact of a car attack during a racially charged protest in Charlottesville, Va.”
Finalist: Ivor Prickett, freelancer for The New York Times
Feature photography
Reuters photography staff
“For shocking photographs that exposed the world to the violence Rohingya refugees faced in fleeing Myanmar.”
Finalists: Kevin Frayer, freelancer for Getty Images; Lisa Krantz of San Antonio Express-News; and Meridith Kohut, freelancer for The New York Times
Fiction
Andrew Sean Greer for Less
“A generous book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about growing older and the essential nature of love.”
Finalists: Hernan Diaz for Coffee House Press and Elif Batuman for The Idiot
Drama
Martyna Majok for Cost of Living
“An honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perceptions of privilege and human connection through two pairs of mismatched individuals: a former trucker and his recently paralyzed ex-wife, and an arrogant young man with cerebral palsy and his new caregiver.”
Finalists: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for Everybody and Tracy Letts for The Minutes
History
Jack E. Davis for The Gulf
“An important environmental history of the Gulf of Mexico that brings crucial attention to Earth’s 10th-largest body of water, one of the planet’s most diverse and productive marine ecosystems.”
Finalists: Kim Phillips-Fein for Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics and Steven J. Ross for Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America
Biography
Caroline Fraser for Prairie Fires
“A deeply researched and elegantly written portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series, that describes how Wilder transformed her family’s story of poverty, failure and struggle into an uplifting tale of self-reliance, familial love and perseverance.”
Finalists: John A. Farrell for Richard Nixon: The Life and Kay Redfield Jamison for Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character
Poetry
Winner: Frank Bidart for Half-light
“A volume of unyielding ambition and remarkable scope that mixes long dramatic poems with short elliptical lyrics, building on classical mythology and reinventing forms of desires that defy societal norms.”
Finalists: Patricia Smith for Incendiary Art and Evie Shockley for semiautomatic
General non-fiction
James Forman Jr. for Locking Up Our Own
“An examination of the historical roots of contemporary criminal justice in the U.S., based on vast experience and deep knowledge of the legal system, and its often-devastating consequences for citizens and communities of color.”
Finalists: Suzy Hansen for Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-America World and Richard O. Prum for The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World
Music
Kendrick Lamar for DAMN
“Recording released on April 14, 2017, a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”
Finalists: Michael Gilbertson for Quartet and Ted Hearne for Sound from the Bench
