The winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes were announced from Columbia University Monday afternoon.

The Pulitzers are regarded as the highest honor that a U.S.-based journalist or organization can receive.

Poynter President Neil Brown is co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. Brown declined to discuss last week’s board deliberations, but offered:

“At a time when the media business is abuzz with excitement and anxiety about powerful new tech tools, there is nothing — nothing — artificial about the courageous reporting and storytelling the Pulitzer Prizes honors today. Journalism is a differentiator, not a commodity.”

Here are the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winners:

Breaking News Reporting

Awarded to the staff of the Los Angeles Times for revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments, followed by coverage of the resulting turmoil and deeply reported pieces that delved into the racial issues affecting local politics

Finalists

• The staff of The New York Times for urgent and comprehensive coverage of New York’s deadliest fire in decades
• Josh Gerstein, Alex Ward, Peter S. Canellos, Hailey Fuchs and Heidi Przybyla of Politico for exclusive coverage of the unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade

Investigative Reporting

Awarded to the staff of The Wall Street Journal for accountability reporting on financial conflicts of interest among officials at 50 federal agencies that revealed officials who traded stocks they regulated and other ethical violations

Finalists

• Joaquin Palomino and Trisha Thadani of the San Francisco Chronicle for an investigation into the city’s failure to fulfill promises to provide safe housing for its homeless citizens
• The staff of The Star Tribune for exposing systematic failures in the state’s juvenile justice system

Explanatory Reporting

Awarded to Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic for deeply reported and compelling accounting of the Trump administration policy that separated migrant children from their parents, leading to abuses that have persisted under the Biden administration

Finalists

• Duaa Eldeib of ProPublica for reporting that clearly demonstrated how the U.S. health care system has failed to lower the number of preventable stillbirths
• Terrence McCoy of The Washington Post for his sweeping examination of the destruction of the Amazon

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Local Reporting

This year, there are two winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting:

Awarded to John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens of al.com for a series exposing how the police force in the town of Brookside preyed on residents to inflate revenue — coverage that prompted the resignation of the police chief, four new laws and a state audit

Awarded to Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today for reporting that revealed how a former Mississippi governor used his office to steer millions of state welfare dollars to benefit his family and friends, including NFL quarterback Brett Favre

Finalist

• The staff of the Los Angeles Times for coverage of the state’s legal cannabis industry

National Reporting

Awarded to Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post for unflinching reporting that captured the complex consequences of life after Roe v. Wade, including a story about a Texas teenager who gave birth to twins after new restrictions denied her an abortion

Finalists

• Stephania Taladrid of The New Yorker for sweeping and empathetic  reporting on individuals caught in the abortion fight in New Mexico, Texas and Mexico
• Joshua Schneyer, Mica Rosenberg and Kristina Cooke of Reuters for an exposé of how two automakers and a major poultry supplier in Alabama violated child labor laws and exploited undocumented immigrant children

International Reporting

Awarded to the staff of The New York Times for coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings

Finalists

• Paul Carsten, David Lewis, Reade Levinson and Libby George of Reuters for their reporting on the Nigerian military’s decadelong campaign of violence carried out over a decade
• Yaroslav Trofimov and James Marson of The Wall Street Journal for prescient on-the-ground reporting from the shifting front lines of the war in Ukraine

Feature Writing

Awarded to Eli Saslow of The Washington Post for evocative individual narratives about people struggling with the pandemic, homelessness, addiction and inequality that collectively form a sharply observed portrait of contemporary America

Finalists

• Elizabeth Bruenig for The Atlantic for exposing the tortuous last hours of inmates awaiting execution on Alabama’s death row
• Janelle Nanos of The Boston Globe for her decadelong investigation of a woman’s quest to confirm her childhood sexual abuse

Commentary

Awarded to Kyle Whitmire of al.com for measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama’s Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion, told through tours of its first capital, its mansions and monuments, and through history that has been omitted

Finalists

• Xochitl Gonzalez of The Atlantic for columns that explore how gentrification and the predominant white culture in the U.S. stifle the physical and emotional expression of racial minorities
• Monica Hesse of The Washington Post for columns that convey the anger and dread that many Americans felt about losing their right to an abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade

Criticism

Awarded to Andrea Long Chu of New York Magazine for book reviews that scrutinize authors and their works, using multiple cultural lenses to explore some of society’s most fraught topics

Finalists

• Lyndsay C. Green of the Detroit Free Press for food and restaurant reviews that also serve as a cultural portrait of the city
• Jason Farago of The New York Times for art and culture reviews, especially those from the frontlines of the war in Ukraine

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Editorial Writing

Awarded to Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Constantino of the Miami Herald for a series of editorials on the failure of Florida public officials to deliver on many taxpayer-funded services and amenities promised to residents over decades

Finalists

• Lisa Falkenberg, Joe Holley, Nick Powell and the late Michael Lindenberger of the Houston Chronicle for helping Texans to understand the Uvalde tragedy
• Alex Kingsbury of The New York Times for highlighting the existential threat of terror and violence committed by right-wing political extremists

Illustrated Reporting and Commentary

Awarded to Mona Chalabi of The New York Times for striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Finalists

• Matt Davies of Newsday for his sharp editorial perspective on the year’s political figures
• Pia Guerra of The Washington Post for her black-and-white drawings that offer insightful commentary on the year’s biggest news events

Breaking News Photography

Awarded to the photography staff of The Associated Press for unique and urgent images from the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the devastation of Mariupol after other news organizations left, victims of Russian targeting of the civilian infrastructure and the resilience of Ukrainian people who were able to flee

Finalists

• Rafiq Maqubool and Eranga Jayawardena of The Associated Press for a visual narrative documenting public fury over Sri Lanka’s economic collapse
• Lynsey Addario of The New York Times for her single image of Ukrainian victims of a Russian mortar attack on a civilian safe passage route

Feature Photography

Awarded to Christina House of the Los Angeles Times for an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street in a tent, images that show her emotional vulnerability as she tries and loses the struggle to raise her child

Finalists

• Photography staff of The Associated Press for images capturing the vulnerability and trauma of elderly Ukrainians caught in the Russian invasion
• Gabrielle Lurie and Stephen Lam of the San Francisco Chronicle for their documentation of fentanyl addiction in the city

Audio Reporting

Awarded to the staff of Gimlet Media, notably Connie Walker, whose investigation into her father’s troubled past revealed a larger story of abuse of hundreds of Indigenous children at an Indian residential school in Canada, including other members of Walker’s extended family, a personal search for answers expertly blended with rigorous investigative reporting

Finalists

• Kate Wells, Sarah Hulett, Lindsey Smith, Laura Weber-Davis and Paulette Parker of Michigan Radio for a documentary recorded behind closed doors of an abortion clinic
• Jenn Abelson, Nicole Dungca, Reena Flores, Sabby Robinson and Linah Mohammad of The Washington Post for “Broken Doors,” an examination of the human toll of no-knock warrants across the country

Public Service

Awarded to The Associated Press for the work of Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant, courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Finalists

• The Austin American-Statesman, in collaboration with the USA Today Network, for unflinching coverage of local law enforcement’s flawed response to the massacre in Uvalde, Texas
• The Washington Post for an exhaustive investigation of the fentanyl crisis in the United States and the government’s failure to address the epidemic

More Pulitzer coverage from Poynter

• AP wins the Breaking News Photography Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Dangerous, devastating war reporting from Ukraine dominates the 2023 Pulitzers
• A breakdown of Jeff Bezos’ net worth wins the Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting
• Spotlight on local reporting and Ukraine highlight Pulitzer Prizes
• All roads lead to Alabama for the 2023 Pulitzers
• Here are some of our favorite 2023 Pulitzer celebration tweets
• Opinion | The Pulitzer goes to … Black introspection
• From the archives: Behind the Pulitzers: A look into the inner workings of journalism’s Super Bowl
• From the archives: How do you pronounce Pulitzer?