This year’s 104th Pulitzer Prizes announcement, which has honored excellence in journalism and the arts since 1917, was initially scheduled for April before being postponed until May 4 and delivered virtually.
In the past the announcement has come in late April and since 1984 Pulitzer winners have received their prizes from the president of Columbia University at a luncheon in May in the Low Library but because of the ongoing pandemic Dana Canedy, administrator of the prizes, gave the announcement via livestream on the Pulitzer Prize website.
According to pulitzer.org, the event has been live-streamed on the Pulitzer site since 2015, but because of Coronavirus the livestream this year will hold much more significance.
“It goes without saying that today we announce the Pulitzer winners in deeply trying times,” said Canedy streaming from her living room. “Ironically, the first time the prizes were presented was June 1917, less than a year before the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu pandemic. In difficult times the Pulitzers may be more important than ever.”
Among this years’ prizes was a first in the new category for “Audio Reporting” which honors “audio journalism that serves the public interest, characterized by revelatory reporting and illuminating storytelling,” according to pulitzer.org. The first winner in the category was the staff of NPR’s “This American Life” along with Molly O’Toole of the LA Times and Emily Green freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd” on the Trump Administrations “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Another winner this year was Barry Blitt, contributor to the New Yorker for his cartoons depicting policies and personalities in Trump’s White House. And these prizes have been awarded only a few short days after Trump took to Twitter to declare “Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters be stripped of their “Noble” prizes for critical reporting about him,” according to nydailynews.com.
Trump called for journalists to return their Pulitzers, which he called “Noble” prizes, misspelling the Nobel Peace Prize and confusing two of the world’s most prominent awards. “He later claimed that he intentionally used the word “Noble” to emphasize how improper it was for the journalists to be honored,” as he seeming tried to explain away an apparent gaffe as a less than stellar play on words, according to nydailynews.com.
“Despite relentless assaults on objective truth, coordinated efforts to undermine our nation’s free press and persistent economic headwinds, journalists continue to pursue and deliver essential facts and truths to keep us safe and protect our democracy….One thing we know for sure is that journalism never stops,” said Canedy.
Among other winners this year for journalism are Anchorage Daily News for Public Service, staff of The Courier-Journal for Breaking News Reporting, Brian Rosenthal of The New York Times for Investigative Reporting, staff of The Washington Post for Explanatory Reporting and staff of The Baltimore Sun for Local Reporting among many others.
