2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners

At 1:00PM ET today, the 105th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced via streamed video. As Pulitzer Prize board co-chair, Stephen Engelberg, said, "For the second, and we hope last year, we're coming to you via remote production."

Prior to the announcement, the board co-chairs, Stephen Engelberg and Mindy Marqués, spoke about how COVID impacted the Pulitzer judging and celebrations. Since theaters were shuttered during the pandemic, the judges considered plays that had not yet been performed and also those that were shown online. The in-person luncheon for both the 2020 and 2021 winners will be held this fall in New York City as COVID rates continue to fall and restrictions are lifted.

Journalism

Public Service
The New York Times

Breaking News Reporting
Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.

Investigative Reporting
Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of The Boston Globe

Explanatory Reporting
Ed Yong of The Atlantic and Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters

Local Reporting
Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times

National Reporting
Staffs of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago

International Reporting
Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News

Feature Writing
Nadja Drost, freelance contributor, The California Sunday Magazine and Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributor, Runner’s World

Commentary
Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch

Criticism
Wesley Morris of The New York Times

Editorial Writing
Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Cartooning
No Award

Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Associated Press

Feature Photography
Emilio Morenatti of Associated Press

Audio Reporting
Lisa Hagen, Chris Haxel, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio

Letters and Drama

Fiction
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (Harper)

Drama
The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall

History
Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton)

Biography
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne (Liveright/Norton)

Poetry
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (Graywolf Press)

General Nonfiction
Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Music

Stride by Tania León, premiered at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on February 13, 2020 (Peermusic Classical)

Special Citation

Darnella Frazier