What is the Pulitzer Prize and why is it awarded. Notable Pulitzer Prize Winners

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Today, the Pulitzer Prize is one of the most famous and, as a result, prestigious world awards in journalism, photojournalism, music, literature and theatrical art. It was approved on August 17, 1903 by Joseph Pulitzer, a well-known American publisher and journalist whose name is still associated with the emergence of the yellow press genre.

Joseph Pulitzer was born in April 1847 in Hungary. Having emigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen, in 1878 he bought up two well-known American newspapers, the St. Louis Dispatch and the St. Louis Post, and formed a new periodical, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Convinced of the power of the press over human minds, Pulitzer uses his publication to publish the most controversial and controversial articles that criticize the actions of the authorities. Soon his publication becomes one of the most profitable and influential in the western United States. In 1883, he buys the New York World and turns it into a popular newspaper full of political news, complete with comics and illustrations. On received from the publication of newspapersprofits Joseph Pulitzer establishes the Department of Journalism and establishes the famous prize.

Traditionally, the Pulitzer Prize is awarded on the first Monday of May by members of Columbia University USA for outstanding achievements in literature and journalism. The amount of the award for most nominations is ten thousand dollars. Separately, the category “For Service to Society” is noted, the winner of which receives not only a monetary reward, but also a gold medal “For Worthy Service to Society.”

In total, there are currently about 25 different nominations, 14 of which are directly related to journalism. Every year, special attention is given to literary awards in six categories: "For a fiction book written by an American writer about America", "For a biography or autobiography of an American author", "For a book on US history", "For the best drama", "For a poem" and "For Non-Fiction" According to historical reports, the Pulitzer Prize (books) was not awarded ten times, as the competition jury was unable to identify a single literary work worthy of the award.

History of Appearance

As mentioned earlier, the Pulitzer Prize originated in 1903, when Joseph Pulitzer's will was drawn up. It was first awarded in 1917. According to an agreement between Columbia University (under the auspices of the Faculty of Journalism of which the award is presented annually) and Pulitzer, the cash part of the prize is the annual income that the Pulitzer Foundation brings, formed at the expense of two milliondonations to the university. Thus, the annual monetary fund of the award is about 550 thousand dollars. In addition to the merchant's own donations, another fund was set up in 1970, which raises additional funds to pay this prestigious award.

The number of nominations and awards is only increasing over time. So, in 1922, for the first time, a prize for the best caricature appeared, and in 1942, for the first time, an award for the best photograph was awarded. A little later, nominations for the best musical compositions and theatrical performances appeared. In addition, since May 2006, not only paper but also electronic works are considered among the applicants for the Pulitzer Prize.

Competition Jury

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded by the Board of Trustees of Columbia University based on the results of the activities of the Advisory Board. It is this body that has a decisive vote in determining the winners. Members of the Advisory Board are developing criteria for the award.

Initially, the council consisted of only thirteen members, but by the middle of 1990 there were already seventeen members. To date, the Pulitzer Committee is composed of 19 experts, including the Prize Administrator, five prominent publishers, one columnist, six editors and six academics.

The activities of the competition committee of the award are constantly criticized by the public. Every year the jury receives many accusations of bias and subjectivity when awarding an honoraryawards. However, according to the will of the creator of the Pulitzer Prize, it is impossible to change the order of this procedure.

Awarding process

According to the charter of the award, in order to receive a nomination in the field of journalism, it is necessary to submit material in paper form no later than February 1 of the current year. For literary works, the last date is the first of July of the previous year for books published from January to June; and November 1st for books released between July and December.

Interestingly, journalism nominations can be submitted on behalf of anyone throughout the award period. The main thing is that the proposal should be accompanied by copies of documents confirming the candidate's right to receive the award. With regard to literature, the Council must provide four copies of the nominated book for review. A similar order is used in evaluating many literary awards in Russia. But musical and dramatic works can be nominated for the award no later than March 1 of the current year, and only on condition that all members of the jury are familiar with their public performance.

Decisions on awarding the prize are made by specially appointed by the university for each individual category members of the jury. Each jury must draw up a list of three nominees and submit it to the Pulitzer Prize Board. The Council, in turn, studies all the materials submitted to it, including written sources, recommendations and works of the nominees, and afterThis already sends its own references for approval to the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. The Trustees receive the Council's choice and immediately announce the names of the winners without waiting for the official awards ceremony. Note that neither the trustees nor the jury members can influence the choice of the Council. Its members decide on the awarding of any nominee, regardless of the recommendations of the jury. At the same time, none of the trustees, members of the jury or the Board is en titled to participate in the discussion or voting if the award they handed affects their personal interests. Council membership is limited to three terms of 3 years each, and vacancies are filled by secret ballot, in which all current members of the Council are required to participate.

Most Famous Pulitzer Prize Winners

Since the inception of this award, many writers and journalists have become its laureates, among whom were both well-known and not recognized by the public authors. The very first winner of the award was the American journalist Herbert Bayard, who was awarded such a prestigious prize for a series of articles under the general title "From Within the German Empire".

Over the years, literary prizes have been awarded to such works as Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. At the same time, for the most part, Pulitzer Prize-winning books have never been bestsellers, just as award-winning theater plays have never been staged.wide stage.

As for the foreign winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the first such nominee was the Russian journalist Artem Borovik with his report "Room 19" about the activities of the Brain Institute. Also in April 2011, the prize was awarded to Anna Politkovskaya for her detailed chronicle of the war in the Chechen Republic. Another Russian journalist, Alexander Zemlyanichenko, won the award twice for his reporting on the Moscow putsch in 1991 and for his photographs of Boris Yeltsin.

Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Main features of the award

As noted earlier, Pulitzer Prize winners for literature, unlike winners in other categories, are not always well-known and generally recognized writers. And although the panel of judges is often accused of incompetence and cheating. This is largely due to the fact that its members strictly abide by the rules drawn up by Joseph Pulitzer himself, according to which this prize, like some literary prizes in Russia, is awarded only to those writers who have dedicated their books to the life and history of the United States.

Often, award-winning works have low literary value, but accurately and reliably describe life in the outback or tell, for example, about the personal problems of American teenagers. That is why these literary awards are divided not by genre, but by temporal principle. Each year, a jury selects several entries that best describe the present and past of the United States.

Recognition for journalists

The Pulitzer Prize for Journalism is the most important and prestigious award for American periodicals. It includes many nominations, which evaluate both the speed and reliability of the coverage of events, and the personal contribution of journalists to their work. Interestingly, in this case, not only individuals, but also entire publications become laureates of the award.

This is perhaps the most predictable Pulitzer Prize. The winners in this case are always known in advance, and it is not difficult to predict the voting results. At the same time, this nomination is also considered the calmest in terms of high-profile scandals and accusations. Most critics agree that all the winners of this award received their awards well deservedly and legally.

Music and theater arts

In the field of music, the Pulitzer Prize is awarded in the amount of three thousand dollars. It is awarded for an outstanding work by an American composer in any major form. These are any orchestral, choral and chamber works, operas and other compositions.

In addition to the music award, there are also special scholarships of $5,000, which are awarded to outstanding journalism graduates who have expressed a desire to specialize in music, theater, film, television or literary criticism.

Pulitzer theater awards have a prize fund of three thousand dollars. They areare awarded both to venerable famous directors and to very young directors working on plays in diverse genres. As with literature, many high-jury awards have never been shown to the general public or performed on Broadway.

Shooting Award

The Pulitzer Prize is deservedly considered one of the most coveted for a photographer. For many, it means much more than a simple monetary reward. It is a recognition of their merits, the value of daily work. At the same time, disputes around this nomination still do not subside. Public opinion is extremely controversial, and many people are not sure whether this Pulitzer Prize is even needed. The photographs to which it is awarded often cross the boundaries of conventional art. Most of the works are devoted either to little-known or already tired problems. Professionals expose personal dramas and broken destinies of people. Therefore, most photographs leave a heavy aftertaste after viewing.

Often, not only the work, but also the photographers themselves are criticized. They are accused of filming horrific events instead of helping people in need. For example, Kevin Kartar, who received an award for his series of photographs "Hunger in Sudan", which depicts a girl weakened from hunger and a huge condor waiting for her to die, committed suicide just two months after the award.

2014 Award Winners

On April 14, 2014, the results were summed up and the names of the winners of the next Pulitzer Prize were announced. Thus, the winner of the Literature Prize was Donna Tartt and her novel The Goldfinch, which tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy wandering around Manhattan after the death of his mother. This work also became the first in the list of the hundred best books of the year according to the Amazon online store at the end of 2013.

The Theater Award went to Annie Baker for her play Flick, presented in the Drama category. In the Music category, John Luther Adams won the award for "Becoming an Ocean".

For journalism, the Public Service category went to The Guardian and The Washington Post, which conducted investigations into the US National Security Agency based on documents provided by Edward Snowden. The nomination "Sensational material" was won by journalists from another American publication (Boston Globe), who covered the bombings and search operations during the Boston Marathon. Reuters journalists reporting on the persecution of Muslim communities in Myanmar and the slave trade were recognized as the best international reporting.