Winners of the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York City on Monday. The Pulitzers are highly revered and mark the best in journalism in 14 categories.
Neil Brown, Poynter's president, is a member of the Pulitzer Prize board. While he said he can’t discuss last week's deliberations, he offered:
“It’s clear that good reporting by one newsroom helps generate even more good journalism by others. We need more reporters working on stories to bring matters to light, and in doing so that puts more power in the hands of citizens.
"Journalism is not optional in a democracy and we must keep that in mind as newsrooms are under strain and getting smaller and smaller. It’s great to recognize the courageous and smart work of so many diverse journalists and news organizations."
The awards are:
Public Service
Awarded jointly to The New York Times and The New Yorker for their coverage of the sexual abuse of women in Hollywood and other industries around the world
Finalist: The Kansas City Star for its reporting on the state government’s secrecy
Breaking News Reporting
Awarded to the staff of the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, California, for its coverage of wildfires in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County
Finalists
- The New York Times staff for coverage of the shooting in Las Vegas
- The Houston Chronicle staff for coverage of Hurricane Harvey
Investigative Reporting
Awarded to The Washington Post staff for revealing Senate candidate Roy Moore’s alleged history of sexual harassment of teenage girls
Finalists
- Carol Marbin Miller and Audra D.S. Burch of the Miami Herald for investigating Florida’s juvenile justice system
- Tim Eberly of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, for investigating Virginia’s parole board system
Explanatory Reporting
Awarded to the staffs of the Arizona Republic and USA Today Network for their exhaustive series on President Donald Trump’s proposed southern border wall
Finalists
- Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times for a series on climate change in cities around the world
- The staff of ProPublica for an examination of maternal death rates in the United States
Local Reporting
Awarded to the Cincinnati Enquirer for documenting a week of the heroin epidemic in Cincinnati and its effect on families and communities through a longform narrative and video
Finalists
- The staff of The Boston Globe for reporting on the city’s poor history of race relations
- Jason Grotto and Sandhya Kambhampati of ProPublica Illinois and Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune for reporting on favoritism in the property tax system in Chicago
National Reporting
Awarded jointly to the staff of The Washington Post and the staff of The New York Times for coverage of contacts between Russian officials and President Donald Trump’s teams.
Finalists
- Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter of Reveal for revealing a practice where judges sent defendants to rehab clinics that were functioning work camps in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
- Brett Murphy of USA Today Network for a data narrative about exploited truckers in America
International Reporting
Awarded to Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters for reporting on Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs
Finalists
- The staff of the Associated Press for a series on the difficult defeat of the Islamic State in Mosul
- The staff of Buzzfeed News for its reporting on Russian assassinations in Britain and America
Feature Writing
Awarded to Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, a freelance reporter for GQ, for a portrait of Charleston murderer Dylann Roof
Finalists
- Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times for a portrait of isolated elders in Japan
- John Woodrow Cox of The Washington Post for a series of stories about gun violence told through the eyes of children
RELATED ARTICLE: Poynter’s best resources for aspiring Pulitzer winners
Commentary
Awarded to John Archibald of Alabama Media Group for commentary about corrupt politicians, women’s rights and hypocrisy in Alabama and across the country
Finalists
- Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times for columns about the crippling cost of housing in California
- Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker for commentary about race and history
Criticism
Awarded to Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine for a body of work about visual arts in America
Finalists
- Manohla Dargis of The New York Times for writing about male dominance and the exploitation of women in Hollywood
- Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post for criticism of books that have shaped political discourse
Editorial Writing
Awarded to Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register for examining the consequences of Iowa’s privatization of Medicaid
Finalists
- Sharon Grigsby of The Dallas Morning News for editorials about Baylor University’s failure with survivors of sexual assault on campus
- The editorial staff of The New York Times for a nine-part series about domestic violence and firearm possession
Editorial Cartoons
Awarded to Jake Halpern, a freelance writer, and Michael Sloan, a freelance cartoonist, for a powerful graphic narrative about refugees in The New York Times
Finalists
- Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press for a series of editorial cartoons about pertinent social issues
- Mark Fiore, a freelance cartoonist, for cartoons delivered via innovative video and digital means
Breaking News Photography
Awarded to Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, for capturing the moment a car struck a group of protesters during a rally
Finalist: Ivor Prickett, a freelance photographer, for The New York Times for heartbreaking images of the Islamic State’s toll in Mosul and Raqqa
Feature Photography
Awarded to Reuters staff for exposing violence against Rohingya refugees in Myanmar
Finalists
- Kevin Frayer, a freelance photographer for Getty Images, for photographing Rohingya refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar
- Meridith Kohut, a freelance photographer for The New York Times, for images of government-caused starvation in Venezuela
- Lisa Krantz of the San Antonio Express-News for images of a vibrant boy with an incurable disorder
The Pulitzer board also awards prizes for the arts. Kendrick Lamar just made history as the first non-jazz or classical artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for music with his album "Damn."
Learn more about the winners on the Pulitzer website.
More Pulitzer coverage:
- What the 2018 Pulitzers tell us about the state of American journalism
- This photojournalist won a Pulitzer for an image he made on his last day in the newsroom
- After years of being overlooked, The USA Today Network (Gannett) wins three Pulitzer Prizes
- The New York Times won a Pulitzer for a nonfiction graphic novel about Syrian refugees
- Despite a rule change, a local newsroom still won the Pulitzer for breaking news
- Pulitzer Preview: Will this year’s Pulitzers join the #MeToo movement?
- The deciders: The 17 people on the Pulitzer Prize board
- Roundup: Poynter’s best resources for aspiring Pulitzer winners
Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that the Cincinnati Enquirer's win was for narrative work and a video, not just a video.
