2016 Pulitzer prizes announced
The 2016 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced during a YouTube live-streamed broadcast from Columbia University in New York, on Monday. Marking the 100th annual announcement of the Pulitzers, the prize's administrator Mike Pride listed off the winners. Coverage of wars in Afghanistan and Syria, the ensuing refugee crisis and the rise of the ISIS extremist group won in a string of categories this year.
What are the Pulitzer awards?
Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established in 1917 by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University, New York. Prizes are awarded annually in 21 categories. In twenty of these, winners receive a certificate and $10,000 cash award. Public Services category winner alone is awarded a gold medal.
Categories in Letters, Drama and Music
There are six categories in Letters and Drama : Fiction, Drama, History, Biography or Autobiography, Poetry and Non-fiction; and there is one prize given for Music. The other 14 categories are in Journalism.
AP wins Public service award
US wire service, The Associated Press, won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal in public service category for investigating slavery and labor abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants. The reporting freed 2,000 captives, brought perpetrators to justice and inspired reforms Alissa Rubin of The New York Times won the international reporting prize for her coverage of Afghan women.
Award for Explanatory Reporting
Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project and T. Christian Miller of ProPublica won the explanatory reporting prize for their harrowing account of a botched rape investigation. Their piece 'An Unbelievable Story of Rape' is now being cited in training programs for law enforcement.
Winners of investigative, national, and local reporting
The national reporting category was won by The Washington Post staff for coverage of how often and why police shoot to kill. Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald Tribune won for their investigation reporting into violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals. Tampa Bay Times also won Pulitzer for local repoting. Los Angeles Times won the breaking news category for San Bernardino shooting coverage.
Photography awards
Photographers from The New York Times and Thomson Reuters shared the breaking news photography award for their coverage of the unprecedented refugee crisis, fueled primarily by the war in Syria. Jessica Rinaldi of The Boston Globe won in the feature photography category.
More journalism awards
One year after magazines became eligible in some categories, The New Yorker received two Pulitzers: for Emily Nussbaum's television criticism, and Kathryn Schulz for feature writing "The Really Big One." Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee won for editorial cartooning, and John Hackworth of Sun Newspapers of Charlotte Harbor, Fla., won for editorial writing. Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe won the commentary prize.
Hamilton, the Broadway musical wins Pulitzer for drama
Lin-Manuel Miranda's work 'Hamilton', a musical about life and death of Alexander Hamilton won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Broadway drama is distinguished by its use of hip-hop music and a predominantly Hispanic and African-American cast to explore American's revolutionary era. Only four other musicals won the award in past fifty years. The show already won a Grammy for best musical theater album.
Letters, Drama and Music: Fiction, and Non-fiction
While the award for fiction went to Viet Thanh Nguyen for his debut novel, "The Sympathizer," "Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS," by Joby Warrick won the nonfiction prize. T. J. Stiles won prize in history, for "Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America." William Finnegan won the biography award for his memoir, "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life."
Poetry and Music awards
'Ozone Journal' by Peter Balakian won the award in Poetry and 'In for a Penny, In for a Pound' by Henry Threadgill won the Pulitzer for Music.
