The 2015 Pulitzer Prize winners – the 99th edition of the award – have been announced by Columbia University.
South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier, which has a staff of around 80 people, won the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for a series of stories on the state’s high death-rate resulting from domestic abuse.
The New York Times won three Pulitzers, two for reporting on the Ebola crisis, while the Los Angeles Times won two, in criticism and feature writing.
The awards were opened to magazines for the first time this year, and although there were no winners from that medium, Jennifer Gonnerman was named a finalist in the Feature Writing category for her New Yorker article, “Before the Law”, the very first piece she wrote for the publication.
Elizabeth Kolbert, who won the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for her book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is also a New Yorker staff member.
Here are all the winners:
Fiction
For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr (Scribner), an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology.
Finalists
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “Let Me Be Frank with You,” by Richard Ford (Ecco), an unflinching series of narratives, set in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, insightfully portraying a society in decline; “The Moor’s Account,” by Laila Lalami (Pantheon), a creative narrative of the ill-fated 16th Century Spanish expedition to Florida, compassionately imagined out of the gaps and silences of history; and “Lovely, Dark, Deep,” by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco), a rich collection of stories told from many rungs of the social ladder and distinguished by their intelligence, language and technique.
Poetry
For a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to “Digest,” by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books), clear-voiced poems that bring readers the news from 21st Century America, rich with thought, ideas and histories public and private.
Finalists
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “Reel to Reel,” by Alan Shapiro (University of Chicago Press), finely crafted poems with a composure that cannot conceal the troubled terrain they traverse; and “Compass Rose,” by Arthur Sze (Copper Canyon Press), a collection in which the poet uses capacious intelligence and lyrical power to offer a dazzling picture of our inter-connected world.
General Nonfiction
For a distinguished and appropriately documented book of nonfiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt), an exploration of nature that forces readers to consider the threat posed by human behavior to a world of astonishing diversity.
Finalists
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “No Good Men Among the Living,” by Anand Gopal (Metropolitan Books), a remarkable work of nonfiction storytelling that exposes the cascade of blunders that doomed America’s misbegotten intervention in Afghanistan; and “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China,” by Evan Osnos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), the story of a vast country and society in the grip of transformation, calmly surveyed, smartly reported and portrayed with exacting strokes.
Other awards
Drama ($10,000)
Awarded to “Between Riverside and Crazy,” by Stephen Adly Guirgis
History ($10,000)
Awarded to Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A Fenn
Biography or Autobiography ($10,000)
Awarded to The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I Kertzer
Music ($10,000)
Awarded to “Anthracite Fields” by Julia Wolfe
Watch a selection of videos of this year’s Pulitzer winners in Books, Drama and Music reading, performing and discussing their work:
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Journalism awards:
Gold medal for Public Service: The Post and Courier of Charleston, SC
Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the Seattle Times
Investigative Reporting: Eric Lipton, New York Times and Staff of the Wall Street Journal
Explanatory Journalism: Zachary R Mider, Bloomberg News
Local Reporting: Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch, and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze, Torrance, California
National Reporting: Carol D Leonnig, Washington Post
International Reporting: New York Times Staff
Feature Writing: Dianna Marcum, Los Angeles Times
Commentary: Lisa Faulkenberg, Houston Chronicle
Criticism: Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing: Kathleen Kingsbury, Boston Globe
Editorial Cartooning: Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News
Breaking News Photography: St Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff
Feature Photography: Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, New York Times
Watch the announcement on YouTube:
Click here to view the embedded video.
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Book details
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Book homepage
EAN: 9780007548682
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- Digest by Gregory Pardlo
EAN: 9781935536505
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- The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
EAN: 9781408851241
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- Encounters at the Heart of the World: A history of the mandan people by Elizabeth A Fenn
EAN: 9780374535117
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- The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I Kertzer
EAN: 9780812983678
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