The 2015 Pulitzer Prizes JOURNALISM LETTERS AND DRAMA Public Service Fiction The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Breaking News Reporting (Scribner) The Seattle Times Staff Drama Investigative Reporting (two prizes) Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis Eric Lipton of The New York Times History and The Wall Street Journal Staff Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Explanatory Reporting Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill and Wang) Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News Biography Local Reporting The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe Daily Breeze, Torrance, Calif. by David I. Kertzer (Random House) National Reporting Poetry Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post Digest by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books) International Reporting General Nonfiction The New York Times Staff The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt) Feature Writing Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times MUSIC Commentary Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (Red Poppy/G. Schirmer, Inc.) Criticism Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times Editorial Writing Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe Editorial Cartooning Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News Breaking News Photography St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff Feature Photography Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times 1 The 2015 Pulitzer Prizes-Fact Sheet OVERVIEW BOARD More than 2,500 entries are submitted each year The Board is composed of 18 members, 16 of to the Pulitzer Prize competition and 21 prizes are whom are voting members. awarded (22 this year). Members serve a maximum of three three-year terms. The year-long process begins with the appointment of 102 distinguished jurors who serve on separate JURIES juries and make three recommendations in each of 21 categories. Juries range in size. Journalism juries generally have five or seven members, depending on the vol- JOURNALISM ume in a category. Book juries have three members. Music and Drama juries have five members each. In the 14 Journalism categories, 1,191 entries were submitted this year (59 more than last year). PROCEDURE In Journalism, there was a robust competition with The Board makes the final decisions after evalu- finalists coming from 24 different news organiza- ating all the finalists nominated by the juries and tions. Winners represented 12 organizations. considering jury reports. This year, two categories, Investigative Reporting Prizes are awarded by majority vote of the Board, and Feature Writing, were opened to entries from but the Board is also empowered to vote “no print and online magazines. Qualifying magazines prize,” or by three-fourths vote to switch nomina- submitted a total of 64 entries in the two categories. tions among categories, or to select any entry that has not been nominated by a jury. A New Yorker story by Jennifer Gonnerman was a finalist in Feature Writing. Awards LUNCHEON The board awarded two Pulitzer Prizes in The prizes will be awarded at a luncheon on May Investigative Journalism, one to Eric Lipton of 28 at Columbia’s Low Library. The New York Times and one to The Wall Street Journal Staff. Lipton also won the 1992 prize in SYMBOL OF THE PRIZES Explanatory Reporting. The iconic Gold Medal is awarded each year to arts AND LETTERS the American news organization that wins the Public Service category. It is never awarded to an In the arts categories, juries reviewed 1,452 books individual. However, through the years, the Medal (11 more than last year). They also reviewed 198 has come to symbolize the entire Pulitzer program. Music entries and 105 plays. This year’s arts and letters recipients are all first- time Pulitzer Prize winners. Julia Wolfe, the Music winner, was a nominated finalist in the category in 2010. 2 The 2015 Pulitzer Prizes-Nominating Juries in Journalism CATEGORY ASSIGNMENTS 1. Public Service 4. Explanatory Reporting Scott Kraft, deputy managing editor, Los Angeles Times (Chair) Jennifer Orsi, managing editor, Tampa Bay Times (Chair) Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy editor-in-chief, The Wall Deb Anderluh, senior editor for investigations and Street Journal enterprise, Sacramento Bee Robin Fields, managing editor, ProPublica, New York, NY Thomas Fladung, managing editor, The Plain Dealer, Martin Gottlieb, editor, The Record and Herald News of Cleveland, OH North Jersey Amalie Nash, editor and vice president for audience Josh Meyer, director of education and outreach of the engagement, The Des Moines Register National Security Monica Richardson, managing editor, Atlanta Journal- Journalism Initiative, Northwestern University Constitution Sandy Sugawara, managing editor, Trove, Washington, DC Cliff Schechtman, executive editor, Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram Rene Sanchez, editor and senior vice president, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN *Jeff Taylor, editor and vice president/news, The Indianapolis Star/IndyStar.com 2. Breaking News Reporting 5. Local Reporting Leona Allen, deputy managing editor, The Dallas Morning News (Chair) Angie Muhs, executive editor and vice president of audience development, The State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL Naedine Hazell, special projects and publications editor, (Chair) Hartford Courant Buffy Andrews, assistant managing editor, social media & Fred Kalmbach, managing editor, The Advocate, Baton engagement, York Daily Record, York, PA Rouge, LA Bill Church, executive editor, Sarasota Herald-Tribune Mark Luckie, manager, journalism and media, Twitter, New York, NY Meg Heckman, lecturer of journalism, University of New Hampshire 3. Investigative Reporting Jacinthia Jones, metro editor, The Commercial Appeal, *Mark Schoofs, investigations and projects editor, BuzzFeed Memphis, TN News, New York, NY (Chair) Carlos Sanchez, executive editor, The Monitor, McAllen, TX *Brett Blackledge, investigations editor, Naples Daily News, Naples, FL Ned Seaton, publisher and editor-in-chief, The Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, KS Karen Bordeleau, senior vice president and executive editor, Providence Journal 6. National Reporting Mike Hudson, senior editor, International Consortium David Shipley, senior executive editor, Bloomberg View, of Investigative Journalists, Center for Public Integrity, New York, NY (Chair) Washington, DC Trif Alatzas, senior vice president and executive editor, The Tim Golden, managing editor, news and investigations, The Baltimore Sun Marshall Project, New York, NY Mary Elson, managing editor, Tribune Content Agency, Marty Kaiser, former editor and senior vice president, Chicago, IL Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Brian McGrory, editor, The Boston Globe Emily Ramshaw, editor, The Texas Tribune Terri Thompson, director, Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Susan Snyder, reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer Economics and Business Journalism, Columbia University Alan White, editor, Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, MA 3 The 2015 Pulitzer Nominating Juries in Journalism 7. International Reporting 10. Criticism Hannah Allam, national correspondent, McClatchy *Gail Caldwell, author, Cambridge, MA (Chair) Newspapers, Washington, DC (Chair) Eric Banks, director, New York Institute for the Humanities Philip Bennett, Eugene C. Patterson Professor and director, Michael Phillips, film critic,Chicago Tribune De Witt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University *Connie Schultz, columnist, Creators Syndicate, Los Angeles, CA S. Mitra Kalita, managing editor for editorial strategy, Los Angeles Times Bill Wyman, author & cultural critic, Al-Jazeera America, New York, NY Lydia Polgreen, deputy international editor, The New York Times 11. Editorial Writing Michael Williams, global enterprise editor, Thomson Reuters, Vanessa Gallman, editorial page editor, Lexington Herald- New York, NY Leader (Chair) 8. Feature Writing Rita Ciolli, editorial and opinion editor, Newsday, Long Island, NY & amNewYork, New York, NY *Ann Marie Lipinski, curator, Nieman Foundation, Harvard University (Chair) John Fensterwald, editor-at-large, EdSource Today, San Francisco, CA *David Finkel, national enterprise editor, The Washington Post Pam Platt, editorial director, The Courier-Journal, Susan Gage, director of local content, Oregonian Media Louisville, KY Group, Portland, OR Susan Smith Richardson, publisher and editor, The Chicago Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author, New York, NY Reporter Mary Rajkumar, international enterprise editor, Associated 12. Cartoons Press, New York, NY Michael Leary, editor and senior vice president, San Antonio *Barry Siegel, professor of English and director, Literary Express News (Chair) Journalism Program, University of California, Irvine Karen Green, research collections and services librarian and Julia Turner, editor-in-chief, Slate, New York, NY adjunct curator of comics, Columbia University 9. Commentary Mónica Guzmán, freelance technology and media columnist, Jim Newkirk, viewpoints editor, Houston Chronicle (Chair) Seattle, WA Vincent Carroll, editorial page editor, The Denver Post Douglas Ray, executive editor, The Gainesville (FL) Sun and John Diaz, editorial page editor, San Francisco Chronicle Ocala Star-Banner *Harold Jackson, editorial page editor, The Philadelphia Mike Townsend, executive editor, Burlington Free Press, Inquirer Burlington, VT Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of media ethics and law, 13. Breaking News and Feature Photography University of Minnesota Geoff Forester,