2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

Columbia University announced the 2011 Pulitzer Prizes which went to a variety of newspapers and were not concentrated in the hands of one or two publications, as has been the case in recent years. Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in 13 journalism categories and 7 arts categories.

For the first time, a prize was awarded to reporting that did not appear in print: ProPublica’s online series “The Wall Street Money Machine,” which won for national reporting. The awards this year included other notable firsts. The Wall Street Journal won its only Pulitzer since Rupert Murdoch bought the paper in 2007. It was for Joseph Rago’s editorial writing on the debate over health care legislation. The Journal received the awards for international reporting and public service in 2007.

Carol Guzy, a photographer from The Washington Post, became the first journalist to win four Pulitzer Prizes. Ms. Guzy shared the award for breaking news photography with two other Post photographers, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti, who were cited for their depiction of the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti.

For the first time, the Pulitzer board, which decides on the winners after juries in each category make their recommendations, did not award a prize for local reporting of breaking news. This was despite a number of dramatic breaking news events last year, including the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which media organizations mobilized considerable resources to cover. The Pulitzer board did, however, cite four newspapers as finalists in the category: The Chicago Tribune, The Tennessean of Nashville, and The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, which were considered a joint entrant for their coverage of the Haiti earthquake.