Not to brag, but we’re totally bragging. Vulture and New York’s Craig Jenkins has been named a 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Criticism “for writing on a range of popular topics, including social media, music and comedy, contending with the year’s disarray and exploring how culture and conversation can both flourish and break down online.†The New York Times’ Wesley Morris was named the winner of the category, while the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed was also named a finalist. Columbia University released the list of the 105th class of Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists on June 11. The annual awards recognize achievement in journalism, books, drama, and music. Check out the full list of 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists below.
Winners and Finalists
Journalism
Public Service
The New York Times
ProPublica
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minn.
Helen Branswell, Andrew Joseph and the late Sharon Begley of STAT, Boston, Mass.
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of The Boston Globe
Dake Kang and the Staff of Associated Press
Margie Mason and Robin McDowell of Associated Press
Explanatory Reporting
Ed Yong of The Atlantic
Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters
Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News, New York
Local ReportingÂ
Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of the Tampa Bay Times
Jack Dolan and Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times
Staff of The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
National Reporting
Staffs of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago
Staff of The New York Times
Staff of The Wall Street Journal
International Reporting
Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News, New York
BuzzFeed News, New York, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, D.C.
Staff of The New York Times
Staff of The Wall Street Journal
Feature Writing
Nadja Drost, freelance contributor, The California Sunday Magazine
Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributor, Runner’s World
Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post
Commentary
Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star
Roy S. Johnson of Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
Criticism
Wesley Morris of The New York Times
Craig Jenkins of New York Magazine
Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times
Alan Wirzbicki and Rachelle G. Cohen of The Boston Globe
Lee Hockstader of The Washington Post
Editorial Cartooning (no award given)
Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling, for “Tom the Dancing Bug,†Andrews McMeel Syndicate
Lalo Alcaraz, Andrews McMeel Syndicate
Marty Two Bulls Sr., freelance cartoonist
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Associated Press
Hassan Ammar, Hussein Malla and Felipe Dana of Associated Press
Joshua Irwandi, freelance photographer, National Geographic
Feature Photography
Emilio Morenatti of Associated Press
Staff of Getty Images
Tyler Hicks of The New York Times
Audio Reporting
Lisa Hagen, Chris Haxel, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio
Staff of National Public Radio
Staffs of the Invisible Institute, Chicago; The Intercept and Topic Studios
Books, Drama & Music
Fiction
The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, by Daniel Mason (Little, Brown and Company)
Telephone, by Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)
Drama
The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall
Circle Jerk, by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley
Stew, by Zora Howard
History
Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton)
The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, by Eric Cervini (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, by Megan Kate Nelson (Scribner)
Biography
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne (Liveright/Norton)
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark (Alfred A. Knopf)
Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World, by Amy Stanley (Scribner)
Poetry
Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz (Graywolf Press)
A Treatise on Stars, by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (New Directions)
In the Lateness of the World, by Carolyn Forché (Penguin Press)
General Nonfiction
Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, by David Zucchino (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong (One World/Random House)
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country, by Sierra Crane Murdoch (Random House)
Music
Stride, by Tania León, premiered on February 13, 2020 at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City (Peermusic Classical)
Data Lords, by Maria Schneider
Place, by Ted Hearne
Special Citations
Special Awards and Citations
Darnella Frazier