Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in journalism, literature, and music. There are 21 categories, fourteen journalism categories, six categories for letters and drama, and one music category. Joseph Pulitzer was a well known journalist that was born in 1847. His newspaper The World received recognition for exposing President Theodore Roosevelt and banker J.P. Morgan for a fraudulent payment of millions of dollars to the French Panama Canal Company in 1909. Pulitzer was indicted for libeling of the President and Morgan. After investigation of the newspaper, the charges were dropped and Pulitzer and The World were recognized for their fight for freedom of press. Pulitzer died in 1911, his health had been deteriorating throughout his career. In 1912 the school of journalism at Columbia University was founded by the help of Pulitzer, who donated money in his will to create a Journalism school and the Pulitzer award. The first Pulitzer Prize was awarded in 1917, only four were awarded.

There is a 19 member board; the board consists of the President of Columbia University, the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and newspaper editors and executives. Nominating jurors are selected by the board members for each category. Entries for the Pulitzer Prize must have completed their work for that current year they are trying to enter for a prize. The entries must be from United States based work. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for awards under the letters, drama, and music category. Nominated finalists are nominated by the nominated jurors. There are usually 3 nominated finalists for each category and the winner is selected. Awards are given out annually. Winners of the Pulitzer Prize are awarded 10,000 dollars. The Pulitzer Prizes also include fellowships. The fellowships are awarded annually. Based off the recommendation of the faculty from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University; four graduate students are awarded 7,500 dollars to report and study abroad. Another fellowship for 7,500 dollars is given to a student that wishes to study drama, music, film, or television. The Pulitzer Prizes are awarded at a lunch in May at the Low Library on the campus of Columbia University. Normally prior to the luncheon the medals, checks, and certificates are sent to the winners. On a few occasions, a Pulitzer Prize is awarded for a Special Award or Citation. There have been years where there was not a winner for a particular category because the board members decided there should not be an award given for that particular category.

In 1957 the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize for Profiles of Courage in the biography category. Kennedy is the only President ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. Awards for photography are given under the journalism category. In 2010, Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News won a Pulitzer prize for Investigative Reporting. In their articles they exposed a fraudulent narcotics team that caused the FBI to review over hundreds of criminal cases that might have been affected by that particular narcotic team.

http://www.pulitzer.org/