The winners of the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism, Books, Drama and Music were announced over a virtual ceremony.
The winners of the 2021 Pulitzer prize constitute the 105th class of Pulitzer Prize winners.
Aminda (Mindy) Marqués González and Stephen Engelberg were the co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize board.
Special citation 2021:
Darnella Frazier, who recorded the murder of Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, received a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board.
About Pulitzer Prize:
i.The Pulitzer Prize recognises the achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature and musical composition within the United States.
ii.The prize honours the books first published in the United States during the year and made available in hardcover or bound paperback for the general public.
iii.The first Pulitzer Prize was given in 1917 for the works done in 1916.
iv.The winner of the 21 categories of the Pulitzer Prize receives a cash award of 15,000 USD and a certificate.
v.Only the winner of the Public Service category of the Journalism receives a gold medal.
2021 BOOKS, DRAMA & MUSIC Pulitzer Prizes:
i.Louise Erdrich won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize under the fiction category for his book titled “The Night Watchman”.
- The book is based on the life of Louise Erdrich’s grandfather, a night watchman who fought against the Native dispossession from rural North Dakota to Washington, D.C.
ii.Late Les Payne and Tamara Payne won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize under the Biography category for the book titled “The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X”.
- The book is the biography of Malcolm X, an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement.
iii.“Stride” composed by Tania Leon which incorporates Black music traditions from the U.S. and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric won the 2021 Music Pulitzer Prizes.
Winners of 2021 Books, Drama & Music Pulitzer Prizes:
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Fiction | The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich |
| Drama | The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall |
| History | Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, by Marcia Chatelain |
| Biography | The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne |
| Poetry | Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz |
| General Nonfiction | Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, by David Zucchino |
| Music | Stride, by Tania León |
2021 Journalism Pulitzer Prizes:
i.The New York Times won the Public Service Pulitzers for its extensive coronavirus coverage that exposed racial and economic inequities, government failures in the United States and beyond.
ii.The 2021 Journalism Pulitzer Prizes has honoured many journalists who covered the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that followed his death.
iii.The 2021 award under the Editorial Cartooning category was not given.
Winners of 2021 Journalism Pulitzer Prizes:
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Public Service | The New York Times |
| Breaking News Reporting | Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Investigative Reporting | Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of The Boston Globe |
| Explanatory Reporting |
|
| Local Reporting | Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times |
| National Reporting | Staffs of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago |
| International Reporting | Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News |
| Feature Writing | Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributor, Runner’s World Nadja Drost, freelance contributor, The California Sunday Magazine |
| Commentary | Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch |
| Criticism | Wesley Morris of The New York Times |
| Editorial Writing | Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times |
| Breaking News Photography | Photography Staff of Associated Press |
| Feature Photography | Emilio Morenatti of Associated Press |
| Audio Reporting | Lisa Hagen, Chris Haxel, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio |
