2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners – The New York Times

PUBLIC SERVICE

The New York Times

The Pulitzer committee honored The New York Times with the prestigious public service award for its “prescient and sweeping” coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for filling “a data vacuum that helped local governments, health care providers, businesses and individuals to be better prepared and protected.” Read the coverage here.

Finalists ProPublica; The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky.

BREAKING NEWS

Staff of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis

The Star Tribune won the award for its “authoritative and nuanced” coverage of the murder of George Floyd.

Finalists Staff of The Courier-Journal, of Louisville, Ky.; Helen Branswell, Andrew Joseph and the late Sharon Begley of STAT, Boston

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

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

The Boston Globe won the investigative reporting award for its extensive coverage of dangerous truck drivers and the failure of state governments to keep them off the road.

Finalists Dake Kang and the staff of The Associated Press; Margie Mason and Robin McDowell of The Associated Press

EXPLANATORY REPORTING

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

The Pulitzer committee honored a team of Reuters reporters for their coverage of an arcane legal doctrine that “shields police who use excessive force from prosecution.” The Atlantic’s science reporter Ed Yong won the award for his coverage of the pandemic.

Finalists Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News

LOCAL REPORTING

Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of The Tampa Bay Times

The committee recognized an exposé of a powerful sheriff in Florida, Chris Nocco, who harassed residents and used private child welfare records and academic grades to profile schoolchildren as potential criminals, effectively terrorizing members of his community.

Finalists Jack Dolan and Brittny Mejia of The Los Angeles Times; Staff of The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C.

NATIONAL REPORTING

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

A yearlong investigation revealed a pattern of disturbing attacks by police K-9 units across the country, including incidents in which innocent civilians were injured or, in at least one case, killed.

Finalists Staff of The New York Times; Staff of The Wall Street Journal

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING

Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News

Using satellite imagery, the reporters revealed a vast infrastructure of prisons and mass internment camps secretly built by China to detain thousands of persecuted Muslim minorities.

Finalists BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; Staff of The New York Times; Staff of The Wall Street Journal

FEATURE WRITING

Nadja Drost of The California Sunday Magazine; Mitchell S. Jackson of Runner’s World

Ms. Drost, a freelance contributor, wrote a “brave and gripping account” of the journey migrants take through the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, and Mr. Jackson wrote a “deeply affecting account” of the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Finalists Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post

COMMENTARY

Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond Times Dispatch in Virginia

For “penetrating and historically insightful columns” that helped to guide Richmond’s process of dismantling monuments to Confederate leaders during the Civil War.

Finalists Roy S. Johnson of the Alabama Media Group; Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star

CRITICISM

Wesley Morris of The New York Times

For “unrelentingly relevant and deeply engaged criticism” with a set of essays that explored the intersection of race and pop culture with insight, acuity and urgency. Read the essays here.

Finalists Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times; Craig Jenkins of New York Magazine

EDITORIAL WRITING

Robert Greene of The Los Angeles Times

Finalists Lee Hockstader of The Washington Post; Alan Wirzbicki and Rachelle G. Cohen of The Boston Globe

EDITORIAL CARTOONING

No winner

Finalists Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling, for “Tom the Dancing Bug,” Andrews McMeel Syndicate; Lalo Alcaraz of Andrews McMeel Syndicate; Marty Two Bulls Sr.

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography staff of The Associated Press

Finalists Hassan Ammar, Hussein Malla and Felipe Dana of The Associated Press; Joshua Irwandi, a freelance photographer for National Geographic

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Emilio Morenatti of The Associated Press

Finalists Staff of Getty Images; 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 of Chicago, The Intercept and Topic Studios

SPECIAL CITATION

Darnella Frazier

For her recording of the killing of George Floyd, which spurred a global reckoning with police brutality.

FICTION

“The Night Watchman,” by Louise Erdrich

This entry in the ongoing Chippewa chronicles takes place in the 1950s, its title character inspired by Ms. Erdrich’s grandfather and the letters he sent to politicians in Washington in an effort to save his tribe.

Finalists “A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth,” by Daniel Mason; “Telephone,” by Percival Everett

HISTORY

“Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” by Marcia Chatelain

“Franchise” connects McDonald’s with the civil rights movement, telling the history of the increasingly intricate ties between the fast-food behemoth and Black communities.

Finalists “The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America,” by Eric Cervini; “The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West,” by Megan Kate Nelson

biography

“The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X,” by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne

This poetic biography, completed by Les Payne’s daughter and principal researcher, Tamara Payne, after his death in 2018, reconstructs the conditions and key moments of Malcolm X’s life, using hundreds of original interviews with his family, friends, colleagues and adversaries.

Finalists “Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath,” by Heather Clark; “Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World,” by Amy Stanley

poetry

“Postcolonial Love Poem,” by Natalie Diaz

Finalists “A Treatise on Stars,” by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge; “In the Lateness of the World,” by Carolyn Forché

GENERAL NONFICTION

“Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy,” by David Zucchino

Finalists “Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning,” by Cathy Park Hong; “Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country,” by Sierra Crane Murdoch

DRAMA

“The Hot Wing King” by Katori Hall

In this work about a quest to make award-winning chicken wings, Ms. Hall, 40, challenged conventional definitions of manhood and fatherhood in Black America.

Finalists “Circle Jerk” by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley; “Stew” by Zora Howard

MUSIC

“Stride” by Tania León

This understated, hauntingly inconclusive work for orchestra was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in February 2020 in honor of the 19th Amendment, which extended the vote to women. The courage of Susan B. Anthony and Ms. León’s progressive grandmother inspired music of wild energy, with an ominous undercurrent.

Finalists “Place” by Ted Hearne; “Data Lords” by Maria Schneider