Columbia University today announces the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes, awarded on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
For more information on this year’s Prize finalists and winners in Journalism, Books, Drama and Music, please visit Pulitzer.org to find biographical information and read winning work.
The 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners are:
JOURNALISM
Public Service
The New York Times
Finalists:
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.
Finalists:
Helen Branswell, Andrew Joseph and the late Sharon Begley of STAT, Boston, Mass.
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of The Boston Globe
Finalists:
Dake Kang and the Staff of Associated Press
Margie Mason and Robin McDowell of Associated Press
Explanatory Reporting
Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters
and
Finalist:
Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News
Local Reporting
Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times
Finalists:
Jack Dolan and Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times
Staff of The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
National Reporting
Staffs of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago
Finalists:
Staff of The Wall Street Journal
International Reporting
Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News
Finalists:
BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, D.C.
Staff of The Wall Street Journal
Feature Writing
Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributor, Runner’s World
and
Nadja Drost, freelance contributor, The California Sunday Magazine
Finalist:
Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post
Commentary
Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
Finalists:
Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star
Roy S. Johnson of Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
Criticism
Wesley Morris of The New York Times
Finalists:
Craig Jenkins of New York magazine
Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times
Finalists:
Alan Wirzbicki and Rachelle G. Cohen of The Boston Globe
Lee Hockstader of The Washington Post
Editorial Cartooning
No award
Finalists:
Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling, for “Tom the Dancing Bug,” Andrews McMeel Syndicate
Lalo Alcaraz, Andrews McMeel Syndicate
Marty Two Bulls Sr., freelance cartoonist
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Associated Press
Finalists:
Hassan Ammar, Hussein Malla and Felipe Dana of Associated Press
Joshua Irwandi, freelance photographer, National Geographic
Feature Photography
Emilio Morenatti of Associated Press
Finalists:
Tyler Hicks of The New York Times
Audio Reporting
Lisa Hagen, Chris Haxel, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio
Finalists:
Staff of National Public Radio
Staffs of the Invisible Institute, Chicago; The Intercept and Topic Studios
BOOKS, DRAMA AND MUSIC
Fiction
“The Night Watchman,” by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
Finalists:
“A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth,” by Daniel Mason (Little, Brown and Company)
“Telephone,” by Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)
Drama
“The Hot Wing King,” by Katori Hall
Finalists:
“Circle Jerk,” by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley
History
“Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton)
Finalists:
Finalists:
“Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath,” by Heather Clark (Alfred A. Knopf)
“Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World,” by Amy Stanley (Scribner)
Poetry
“Postcolonial Love Poem,” by Natalie Diaz (Graywolf Press)
Finalists:
“A Treatise on Stars,” by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (New Directions)
“In the Lateness of the World,” by Carolyn Forché (Penguin Press)
General Nonfiction
“Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy,” by David Zucchino (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Finalists:
“Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning,” by Cathy Park Hong (One World/Random House)
Finalists:
“Data Lords,” by Maria Schneider
SPECIAL CITATION
