The prestigious Pulitzer Prizes for achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition were announced on April 16, 2018. This was the 102nd edition of Pulitzer Prizes.
Coming as a positive surprise, a comic novel, ‘Less’, written by Andrew Sean Greer has won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This year’s winner defied the unwritten convention that Pulitzer Prize for fiction is awarded to books based on a serious theme.
- ‘Less’ is about a 49-year-old struggling San Francisco-based author, Arthur Less, who decides to tour the world to escape himself.
- As per Pulitzer Prize Committee, ‘“Less” is “a generous book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about growing older and the essential nature of love.”
Kendrick Lamar becomes 1st rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize:
On April 16, 2018, 30-year old Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music.
- Lamar has won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album ‘DAMN’.
- Pulitzer Prize for Music has been awarded 67 times since its inception in 1943.
- However, this was the first time that it has been given to an artist outside of the classical or jazz community.
Winners of 2018 Pulitzer Prize – Letters, Drama & Music:
| Category | Winners |
| Fiction | Less, by Andrew Sean Greer |
| Drama | Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok |
| Poetry | Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart |
| History | The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis |
| General Nonfiction | Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman Jr. |
| Biography | Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Frase |
| Music | DAMN, by Kendrick Lamar |
Winners of 2018 Pulitzer Prize – Journalism:
The coveted Pulitzer Prize in Public Service category went to The New York Times and The New Yorker for their revelations of sexual harassment and abuse in Hollywood.
| Category | Winners |
| Public Service | The New York Times, for reporting led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker, for reporting by Ronan Farrow |
| Breaking News Reporting | Staff of The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California |
| Investigative Reporting | Staff of The Washington Post |
| Explanatory Reporting | Staffs of The Arizona Republic and USA Today Network |
| Local Reporting | The Cincinnati Enquirer Staff |
| National Reporting | Staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post |
| International Reporting | Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters |
| Feature Writing | Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, freelance reporter, GQ |
| Commentary | John Archibald of Alabama Media Group, Birmingham, Alabama |
| Criticism | Jerry Saltz of New York magazine |
| Editorial Writing | Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register |
| Editorial Cartooning | Jake Halpern, freelance writer, and Michael Sloan, freelance cartoonist, The New York Times |
| Breaking News Photography | Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia |
| Feature Photography | Photography Staff of Reuters |
Quick Facts about Pulitzer Prize:
♦ Awarded For: Outstanding achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition
♦ First Awarded in: 1917, by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher
♦ Administered By: Columbia University
♦ Prize: Gold Medal for the winner in Public Service Category of Journalism. All other winners receive Certificate and $15000 Cash Prize
