The New York Times received five Pulitzer Prizes this year, marking the second-highest number of prizes won by that paper during any year in its history.
The Times won for its work in numerous areas, ranging from its coverage of the American wars in Asia and the presidential campaign, to its works in the arts, to the unfolding drama surrounding former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation.
The announcement of the winners—at 3 p.m. on Monday in the Graduate School of Journalism’s World Room—commenced with remarks by Pulitzer Prize Administrator Sig Gissler. “This is our 93rd year and we’re going strong,” he said. After praising the jurors, Gissler said they had considered a total of 1067 books and 1028 newspaper entries.
The Washington Post, which garnered much attention last year for receiving six Pulitzer Prizes, only received one prize this year. Gissler noted that this was reflective of how the Pulitzer Prizes varied annually.
“These are tough times for the journalism industry, but the winners are examples of the high-quality journalism that can be found in the United States,” Gissler said.
The Las Vegas Sun won the Public Service award for Alexandra Berzon’s reporting on the fatal hazards faced by certain construction workers.
“The watch-dog still barks, such as the construction worker deaths, mayor’s misdemeanors, and more,” he added, referring to the analytical tendencies of the winners.
Watch-dog journalism has been around for 93 years—the lifespan of the Pulitzers. But in what Gissler called a big step for the integration of new media, this was the first year in which exclusively online publications were considered as candidates.
Though work from online-only outlets did not receive any awards, online content played a contentious role in the judging of several awards. Six jurors worked at online publications. “Papers have been successful in integrating online content into their material, and this reflects on the hybrid nature of these different kinds of journalism that we are striving to achieve,” Gissler said.
During the question-and-answer session, a reporter asked whether the lack of rewards for online publications were reflective of the lack of maturity of these publications or the jurors’ preferences towards print media. “The Pulitzer Prizes are a living organism and they change throughout the years,” Gissler responded, “but what we have always tried to underline is original news reporting—going out, interviewing, feeling, and reporting.”
In terms of non-journalistic awards—formally known as Letters, Drama, and Music—Gissler noted further aberrations from trends. He said the award for the Drama category, granted to Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, a play set in Africa, was unusual because it focused on material outside the United States. The history award, given to Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, marked the first time an African American won that prize.
Other winners under Letters, Drama, and Music included Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge for fiction, and Jon Meacham’s American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House for biography.
During the question-and-answer session, a reporter voiced his concerns about the fact that there was a lack of winning articles pertaining to the economic situation, despite the relevance of the recession today. Gissler replied that although none of them were selected in the end, “the juries did nominate several pertinent stories and all of them were impressive work.”
To view the entrees of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners, see www.pulitzer.org.
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