Breaking Barriers: The Pulitzer Prize Winners 2018

The Pulitzer Prize, the highest American honour in journalism was recently announced. Here is a look at the winners.

The Pulitzer Prize, a prestigious annual award in the field of excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements, musical composition in the United States, was announced on Tuesday, 17th April. The annual prize administered by the Columbia University in New York City shook things up this year, by allowing new unprecedented entries like Kendrick Lamar making a foray into the twenty-one categories. Here is a list of some of the winners:

Public Service: The New York Times for reporting led by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and The New Yorker for by Ronan Farrow: The staff of the two newspapers was awarded the honour for their impactful coverage of the allegations of sexual assaults including those against Harvey Weinstein, and thus leading to new debates and “worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women” as the Pulitzer website mentions.
Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the Press-Democrat, Santa Rosa California: The newspaper was lauded for its breakthrough coverage of the wildfires that spread through the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County by using an array of journalistic tools including social media, photography, video, etc.
Investigative reporting: Staff of the Washington Post: The Washington Post was awarded the honour for their brilliant coverage exposing the sexual harassment of Republican candidate Roy Moore, and the subsequent criticism they faced for it.
Explanatory Reporting: Staffs of The Arizona Republic and USA Today Network: The two newspapers were rewarded for their combined efforts to explain and report on the promise of the Mexico border wall by Donald Trump, heroin reporting and editorial writing in health care.
International Reporting: Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall, and Manuel Mogato of Reuters: The Reuters correspondents through a dint of sheer hard work and determination that included countering the propagandist narrative that was being spewed by the Filipino government, exposing “the brutal killing campaign behind the President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs”, the Pulitzer committee mentions.
Feature Photography: Photography staff of Reuters: The photo-journalists of Reuters were awarded the honour for their immense contribution in exposing the violence faced by Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myamar.
Music: DAMN., by Kendrick Lamar: The first non-jazz and non-classical recording to be given this honour, Lamar’s album hit critical as well as popular acclaim soon after its release on April 14, hitting number one at US Billboard 200. The Pulitzer admits contemporary rap and with it, the multi-faceted African-American life, into the sphere of ultimate critical acclaim.