Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Photos of Pulitzer Prize winners Pulitzer Prize
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10.04.14 10:33
10 thousand dollars seems like a small amount. But the main thing here is prestige! The Pulitzer Prize, awarded annually for the best book of fiction (this is one of 6 nominations), is a very honorable award.
What are they awarded for?
At the beginning of the last century, the prize was established by the founder of the foundation of the same name, the famous publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The Trustees of Columbia University have presented the award every year since 1917. The exceptions are only a few years, when for some reason the winner was not named (one of the latest precedents is 2012).
Required conditions: the applicant must be an American who has written and published a book devoted to the problems of US society. A jury selects three nominees, and then the Pulitzer Prize Board names the winner of the trio.
Sometimes the Council is accused of subjectivism, but this is inevitable: there are so many people, so many opinions. But “public judgments” and ratings do not influence the commission’s decision, and often the winners are not bestsellers. But the award already received is a reason to pay attention to the book. Therefore, the best of the winning works have been filmed. So we will tell you exactly about such books.
Love, War, Great Depression
One of the first Pulitzer Prizes went to a woman writer: Edith Wharton, for her exquisite The Age of Innocence. The hypocrisy and hypocrisy of high society at the end of the 19th century and the struggle against it by the main character, lawyer Archer, is the main thing in the plot. The lawyer's choice between a marriage with a modest "equal" May and an affair with her cousin Countess Ellen, "disgraced" in Europe, will be difficult. Martin Scorsese brought Wharton's work to the screen - the film is called "The Age of Innocence", and it stars Daniel Day-Lewis, a young Winona Ryder and the dazzling Michelle Pfeiffer.
In 1937, “southerner” Margaret Mitchell told about the horrors of the American Civil War through the prism of the perception of the flighty but brave girl Scarlett. It was Gone with the Wind. Needless to say, the film with Vivien Leigh turned out excellent, and it was literally “showered” with Oscars.
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Pulitzer in 1940 and focused on the hardships of a farming family who lost almost everything during the Great Depression. The drama of the same name, directed by John Ford, won two Oscars in 1941.
About politics, the sea and racial discrimination
In 1947, the “birthday boy” of the award was Robert Penn Warren with his political thriller “All the King’s Men.” A very popular work, which has been filmed several times (the last film in 2006 starred Sean Penn in the title role of the skillful dodgy politician Willie Stark, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins and Jude Law).
Ernest Hemingway spoke about the ordeal of the elderly Cuban Santiago, who caught a huge fish that carried him into the open ocean, in his legendary story “The Old Man and the Sea.” This is the 1953 Pulitzer Prize. By the way, a short cartoon by Russian director Alexander Petrov based on the work became an Oscar winner in 2000.
The famous novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” was written by Harper Lee. She deservedly received the award in 1961. This is a story about an honest lawyer raising two children alone, who was not afraid to speak out in defense of his black fellow countryman (he was accused of rape). And again - a quick film adaptation, and again - three Oscars, including the eminent Gregory Peck for the role of lawyer Finch. This film ranks second on the list of the most outstanding US films of all time, thanks to Harper Lee for the excellent story.
But Steven Spielberg directed the drama “The Color Purple” based on the book by black writer Alice Walker “The Color Purple” (award in 1983). 11 Oscar nominations, the amazing Whoopi Goldberg (and the wonderful Danny Glover) in the leading roles and the hard life of a girl in the former slaveholding South, who became pregnant at fourteen... by her own father.
“The Lost Generation” and the search for the meaning of life
John Updike received two awards at once for his two novels from the famous tetralogy about the Rabbit (this nickname was given to the main character of all parts of the franchise, basketball player Harry) - these were “Rabbit Got Rich” in 1982 and “Rabbit Calmed Down” in 1991. And for the first time, Harry appears in the book “Rabbit, Run” (“James Caan became the film incarnation” of the basketball player in the film of the same name). The cycle is a classic of the genre about the post-war generation of America, “traditionally” searching for the meaning of life, who suffered their own wars, Vietnam and Korea.
In 1999, Michael Cunningham won the prize with his work “The Clock.” The destinies of three women (including the writer Woolf) of different generations are intricately intertwined in a narrative that covers only one day in the life of each. Is it any wonder that Cunningham became the author of the script for the film, which was nominated for a major Oscar in 2002? And Nicole Kidman received the award for her role as Virginia Woolf.
A post-apocalyptic future is imagined in Corman McCarthy's novel The Road. A father and little son are wandering in search of salvation from hordes of zombies along the roads of America, what awaits them around the corner?.. This is the 2007 award and the creepy film of 2009, in which Viggo Mortensen starred.
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Books
- Empire Falls, Richard Russo. Pulitzer Prize 2002 It is possible that Richard Russo will remain in the history of American literature as the author of the last great novel of the 20th century. The Christmas Science Monitor Miles Robie... Buy for RUR 646
- Empire Falls, Richard Russo. Pulitzer Prize 2002. It is possible that Richard Russo will remain in the history of American literature as the author of the last great novel of the 20th century. The Christmas Science Monitor Miles…
1. The Brief Fantastic Life of Oscar Wow by Junot Diaz
Another confirmation that winners of major awards do not have to be boring and insipid. On the contrary, this story is simply permeated with kindness, light and joy. At first glance, the plot seems ordinary, and a person’s life seems small and ordinary. But this is a new and interesting perspective on the hero’s ability to endure everything and become better in the name of love.In the center of the plot, Oscar, who is overweight, is clearly not a handsome man, living in comics and fantasy. But he is kind, bright, he is a romantic of his time. Living in a Spanish ghetto in America, he dreams of becoming the next Tolkien, but what he wants even more is to find love. Everything would be fine, but he has an ancient family curse. What awaits these people are prisons, sorrows, debts and sorrows, but most importantly - no happy love. For example, Oscar's mother is breathtakingly beautiful, and also unhappy. And then the man decides to break the curse.
2. "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond
Not your typical Pulitzer Prize winner. Jared Diamond is an evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and popularizer of science, traveling the world with his anthropological and biological tasks. His book is non-fiction, not fiction.The work touches on various questions, for example, why and thanks to what factors did European civilization achieve success in its development? What caused the development of industry, weapons, what were the prerequisites for the beginning of technological progress? What overall influence does the environment and the world around have on our development and the development of humanity? This work, despite its fundamental nature, is very easy to read.
3. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
The young writer Donna Tartt created this novel for more than 10 years. And I must say, we can now fully appreciate her work. This is a huge and bright canvas against the backdrop of modern literature, which proves that women are no less talented and educated than men. We have already included Tartt’s novels in, and it wouldn’t hurt to include “The Goldfinch” there too.Theo, at 13, miraculously survived an explosion that caught him and his mother in a museum. Waking up, the teenager receives a ring and a painting from a dying old man, asking him to save these things. The boy takes them out into the street and appropriates them for himself. From this moment on, his life becomes difficult and full of trials. He travels from new family to family, experiencing fate from all sides. And the painting, kept for so many years, can become both his salvation and a curse that will finally destroy Theo, consumed by traumas and demons.
4. “The Middle Sex”, Jeffrey Eugenides
A shocking and difficult book that many may not like, but which even more people admire for the courage and importance of the idea. It is even strange to think that initially Geoffrey Eugenides seriously thought about becoming a monk or priest. Nevertheless, the craving for literature took its toll, for which the writer eventually became a Pulitzer Prize laureate. The author himself became a classic during his lifetime; each of his novels resonates in society.“The Middle Sex” is a story about a hermaphrodite. It is told in the first person, which further allows you to feel everything that happened in the book and consider it a reality captured on the pages. But it would be a shame to think that we are only talking about a person who differs from generally accepted rules. This is a story that captures the social, cultural and historical events of the twentieth century. All of them determine the fate of several generations of the Greek family where the main character comes from.
5. "Foreign Connections" by Alison Lurie
We are all about the serious and serious, but among the Pulitzer Prize winners there are good, light and bright books. Alison Lurie’s book, which I would boldly classify as one, is precisely one of these. The story here is about nothing else but love.Professor of English Literature Vinny is 54 years old. She cannot be called a beauty; she was disappointed in men and especially in marriage, completely devoting herself to science. Sometimes she is entertained by meaningless connections. Everything changes when Vinnie travels to England for work. Her life is changed by the uncouth and rude American Chuck. At the same time, we learn the story of Fred, who can’t stand England and is annoyed by everything here. Until he meets a soap opera star and falls in love with her. All these stories are romantic, adventurous and imbued with wonderful English humor.
6. "Olivia Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout
The writer became a classic during her lifetime and successfully ranks among the most significant authors of our time. Each of her books is a bestseller all over the world, she wrote for leading publications, and she was called both the American Chekhov and Yates in a skirt. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, she has the Spanish Llibreter Prize and the Italian Bancarella Prize.Her novel Olivia Kitteridge is true literary excellence at its finest. I would like to note the author’s excellent language, memorable and original characters. The plot seems deceptively simple, and it is. The book consists of short stories from the life of a small town. The image of Olivia runs through all the plots - a retired teacher who smokes and has her own opinion on everything, her tyrannical love for her family and friends stands in the corner of this narrative. By the way, an equally brilliant mini-series was filmed based on the novel.
7. “The Road”, Cormac McCarthy
The name Cormac McCarthy needs no introduction. His other novel, No Country for Old Men, formed the basis. But the book “The Road” became famous in the literary field, because the author received the Pulitzer Prize for it. For more than 30 years it has remained a bestseller, selling millions of copies.To some extent, readers will experience an emotional shock from reading, although the plot here is not particularly complex. The writing style and believability are amazing. A father and his young son wander through the desert after a mysterious disaster. Their journey touches on many issues important to humanity. For example, is it worth living where there is no longer life? Where does the line of humanity end? Is it necessary to maintain life and fight for the sake of children? The path will change the heroes, one can only guess in which direction.
8. The Hours, Michael Cunningham
The writer's most famous work, which brought him incredible fame and the Pulitzer Prize. In 1999, the novel became the best of the year and also received the PEN/Faulkner Award. There is also a successful film adaptation, considered today a classic of cinema.This is a complex and contradictory novel, where all events are interconnected by the theme of time and its course. How does it affect writing dreams and talent? How does it help or hinder the birth of a book? Can events that are separated in time and occur at different moments affect the plot? Several lines, each with its own story. Virginia Woolf, post-war Los Angeles, 90s and modern New York. The plot is intricately woven into a knot that the reader has to unravel.
9. "Ship's News" by Annie Proulx
This novel also brought worldwide fame to the author. He is full of adventurism, tragicomedy and irony. It is easy to read and leaves behind a bright feeling. It can also serve as an excellent motivation, which is probably why he received the award in 1994.The plot centers on an unlucky journalist who, due to a family tragedy, is forced to return to his small home island from noisy New York. Thus begins a story spanning several generations of his family, full of romance, adventure and tragicomedy. Like any small community, it has its own secrets, skeletons in the closets, grievances and hopes. The novel was also made into an excellent film.
10. “Beloved,” Toni Morrison
It is noteworthy that this novel is Toni Morrison's debut. Nevertheless, it brought the writer worldwide fame. First, a nomination for the Pulitzer, and then for the Nobel Prize. It seems that everything connected with the novel is doomed to success. In any case, the film adaptation was also nominated for an Oscar and entered the history of world cinema, without losing its relevance to this day. The main role was played by Oprah Winfrey, who unexpectedly excelled in the dramatic role.The novel is based on real, and no less shocking events. The entire novel is imbued with questions of freedom and its price. In the 80s, in the nineteenth century, a black slave, saving her daughter from slavery, decides to kill the child in order to prevent her from living an unhappy life. This is the story of a desperate woman and her fate, which is essentially worse than death.
11. "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler
If A Spool of Blue Thread, another novel by a world-famous writer, was awarded the Booker, then Breathing Lessons received the Pulitzer Prize. Fortunately, a translation was published in the CIS countries last year, and now we can enjoy this high, modern and masterful literature.Maggie and Ira are a couple. She is impetuous, sharp, energetic. He is calm, reserved, charming. It's opposites attracting in marriage for almost 30 years. It seems that their family everyday life is boring and generally ordinary. One day they go to the funeral of their old friend. Suddenly they learn on the radio that their ex-daughter-in-law is walking down the aisle again. A boring journey turns into a real rescue operation, because the happiness of their son and his love are at stake. As a result, we get a bitter but charming story of one day in the life of a married couple. This is a new look at modern relationships, their essence; there is a place for both comedy and drama.
We hope that among this motley list you will find a book to your liking and mood. We deliberately did not include in the selection the long-known and already somewhat tired masterpieces of the Pulitzer Prize, such as “Gone with the Wind,” which is already on everyone’s lips and which can be easily found in the school curriculum.
On August 7, 1903, Joseph Pulitzer, the famous American newspaper magnate and publisher, drew up a will in which he instructed, after his death, to establish an award for journalists, writers and figures in the field of education. This day is considered the date of establishment of the Pulitzer Prize, the amount of which is 10 thousand dollars. Over the years, it has been awarded to such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Saul Below, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner and others.
The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in American journalism and literature, music and theater. The prize was established on August 17, 1903, when the will of Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), an American publisher, journalist, and founder of the “yellow press” genre, was drawn up to create a prize in his name. The Pulitzer Prize began to be awarded in May 1917 for outstanding achievements in the field of literature and journalism. Its amount is $10,000.
The Pulitzer Prize was funded by an investment fund created after the publisher's death. In 1970, another foundation was created, which managed to attract additional donations to pay for the awards of this prestigious prize.
When presenting the Pulitzer Prize, the category “For Service to the Public” is especially recognized. In addition to the monetary reward, the nominee is also awarded a gold medal. The award is given "for an exceptional example of worthy service to society."
The number of awards has increased over the years. In 1922, a prize for the best caricature appeared. In 1942, an award for the best photograph was added. Since 1943, the list of nominees has been replenished with music composers. In 1999, the “Investigative Journalism” nomination was created. In 2006, they began to hold a competition among online content. Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print and for publications on the Internet.
Currently, the prize is awarded in 25 categories, 14 of which are related to journalism.
The literary prize is awarded in 6 categories:
“For a fiction book written by an American writer, preferably about America”;
"For a book on the history of the United States";
"For a biography or autobiography of an American author";
"For a poem";
"For non-fiction";
"For the best drama" In 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1964, 1971 and 1974 it was not awarded to anyone, since the jury did not identify a single worthy literary work.
The prizes are awarded by Columbia University in New York on the nomination of the Pulitzer Committee. It consists of 19 experts - five publishers, six editors, six academics, including the university president and dean of the journalism department, one columnist and the award administrator.
Who decides on awarding the prize? Who was the first Pulitzer Prize winner?
The first laureate of the prize in 1917 was the American journalist Herbert Bayard. He was awarded a prestigious prize for his New York World series "Inside the German Empire."
Who received the award in 2014?
In April 2014, in New York, journalists from the Guardian and the Washington Post received prestigious awards in the category “For Service to the Public” for their revealing materials about the illegal collection of data by American intelligence agencies.
Two Reuters correspondents also won the Pulitzer Prize for International Journalism for their reporting on the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.
The Boston Globe team received the Breaking News award for their reporting from the scene in Boston during the terrorist attack.
Donna Tartt won the Literary Award for Fiction for her novel The Goldfinch.
In the dramaturgy category - Annie Baker for the play "The Flick".
American composer John Luther Adams received the Pulitzer for his orchestral work Become Ocean.
Who else was among the Pulitzer Prize winners?
Over the years, the winners of the literary Pulitzer Prize have been Ernest Hemingway (“The Old Man and the Sea”), Harper Lee (“To Kill a Mockingbird”), William Faulkner (“Parable”), Tennessee Williams (“A Streetcar Named Desire”), Arthur Miller (“ Death of a Salesman), Margaret Mitchell ("Gone with the Wind"), John Updike (for the novels "Rabbit Got Rich" and "Rabbit Got Calm").
The Pulitzer Prizes in Music have been awarded to Wynton Marsalis (1997), George Gershwin (1998), Duke Ellington (1999), and Kevin Pats (2012).
The award for the best photograph over the years went to Don Bartletti for a series of photographs of people trying to leave Central America for the United States, Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria, taken 9 minutes before it went under water, Alexander Zemlyanichenko for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a pre-election concert, William Gallagher for a photograph of the holey shoe of US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Stan Grossfeld for a series of photographs of the famine in Ethiopia, etc.
Pulitzer Prize Winners in Photography:
2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Berehulak is a freelance photographer for The New York Times.
The prize recognizes his fearless and breathtaking photography of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
This year, Tyler Hicks and Josh Haner received the Pulitzer Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for photojournalists.
Josh Haner received a nomination in the special photography category for his series of images that tell the story of Jeff Baum - one of the victims of the Boston bombings - who lost both of his legs and is now trying to return to normal life.
A team of photographers from the Associated Press was recognized as the best in the category "Main News Photography." We are talking about work that covered the Syrian civil war. The agency's team of photographers, who focused on the 2-year conflict, included: Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Khalil Hamra, Muhammed Muheisen and Narciso Contreras.
A woman named Aida is crying. She was seriously injured after the Syrian military shelled her home in Idlib. Northern Syria, March 10, 2012. Aida's husband and their two children were killed during the attack. Photographer Rodrigo Abd-AP.
Massoud Husseini - Crying girl among those killed in Kabul.
2011
Barbara Davidson for her series of photographs of innocent victims of urban shootings between rival gangs
Damon Winter for a series of photographs of Barack Obama's presidential campaign
Renee Baer (The Sacramento Bee) for her photo of a single mother and her son losing their battle with cancer
Oded Balilty for his photograph of the confrontation between troops and residents of the West Bank
Dianne Fitzmaurice (San Francisco Chronicle) for photograph of an Iraqi boy injured in an explosion
David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer for their series of photographs about the Iraq War
Don Bartletti (Los Angeles Times) for a series of photographs of young people trying to leave Central America for the northern United States and facing mortal danger
Matt Rainey (Star-Ledger) for his photo series about two friends injured in a dorm fire
Carol Guzy, Michael Williamson and Lucien Perkins (Washington Post) for their photo series on Kosovo refugees
Associated Press team for photographs of the Monica Lewinsky scandal
Clarence Williams (LA Times) for a series of photographs of children of drug-addicted parents
1997
Alexander Zemlyanichenko (AP) for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a pre-election concert
1996
Stephanie Welsh for her photo series from Kenya on female circumcision
Associated Press team for its work in Rwanda
Kevin Carter for his photo of a starving child with a vulture watching him. After accusations that the photographer did not help the child, Carter committed suicide.
John Kaplan for his series of photographs depicting the 21-year-old generation
Stan Grossfeld for his photo series of the Ethiopian famine
James Dickman for a series of photographs about life and death in El Salvador
John White for a series of photographs about life
Taro Yamasaki for photographs of the Michigan prison
Jahangir Razmi for the photo of the firing squad in Iran
Stanley Forman for his series of photographs of the 1975 Boston Fire
Rocco Morabito for his photo “Kiss of Life,” in which one worker saves another after an electric shock by giving him CPR and cardiac massage right on the pole. The worker survived.
Jack Thornell for the photograph taken immediately after the shooting of James Meredith, a civil rights activist.
Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria, taken 9 minutes before it went under water
William Gallagher for his photograph of US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's holey shoe. Stevenson lost to Eisenhower
1949
Nathaniel Fain for his photograph of baseball player Babe Ruth's final public appearance. Two months later the athlete died of cancer
Earl Bunker for his photograph of the head of the family returning home to a small town in southeastern Nebraska
Today, the Pulitzer Prize is one of the most famous and, as a result, prestigious world awards in journalism, photojournalism, music, literature and theater arts. It was approved on August 17, 1903 by Joseph Pulitzer, a famous American publisher and journalist whose name is still associated with the emergence of the “yellow press” genre.
Joseph Pulitzer was born in April 1847 in Hungary. Having emigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen, in 1878 he bought up two well-known American newspapers, the St. Louis Dispatch and the St. Louis Post, and formed a new periodical, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Convinced of the power of the press over human minds, Pulitzer uses his publication to publish the most controversial and controversial articles containing criticism of the actions of the authorities. Soon his publication becomes one of the most profitable and influential in the western United States. In 1883, he bought the New York World and turned it into a popular newspaper, full of political news, supplemented by comics and illustrations. Using the profits from publishing newspapers, Joseph Pulitzer created the Faculty of Journalism and established the famous prize.
Traditionally, the Pulitzer Prize is awarded on the first Monday in May by members of Columbia University in the United States for outstanding achievements in the field of literature and journalism. The prize amount for most nominations is ten thousand dollars. The category “For service to society” is separately noted, the winner of which receives not only a monetary reward, but also a gold medal “For worthy service to society.”
In total, there are currently about 25 different nominations, of which 14 are directly related to journalism. Every year, literary awards receive special attention in six categories: “For a book of fiction written about America,” “For a biography or autobiography of an American author,” “For a book on US history,” “For best drama,” “For a poem,” and “For non-fiction literature." According to historical reports, the Pulitzer was not awarded ten times because the competition jury was unable to identify a single literary work worthy of the award.
History of appearance
As mentioned earlier, the Pulitzer Prize originated in 1903, when Joseph Pulitzer's will was drafted. It was first awarded in 1917. According to an agreement between Columbia University (under the auspices of whose journalism department the prize is awarded annually) and Pulitzer, the monetary portion of the prize is the annual income generated by the Pulitzer Foundation, formed from a two-million dollar donation to the university. Thus, the annual cash fund of the award is about 550 thousand dollars. In addition to donations from the businessman himself, another fund was created in 1970, which raises additional funds to pay this prestigious award.
The number of nominations and awards is also increasing over time. Thus, in 1922, a prize for the best cartoon appeared for the first time, and in 1942, an award for the best photograph was awarded for the first time. A little later, nominations for the best musical compositions and theatrical productions appeared. In addition, since May 2006, not only paper but also electronic works have been considered among applicants for the Pulitzer Prize.
Competition jury
The Pulitzer Prize is awarded by the Board of Trustees based on the work of the Advisory Council. It is this body that has the decisive vote in determining the winners. Members of the Advisory Council develop criteria for awarding the prize.
Initially, the council consisted of only thirteen members, but by mid-1990 there were already seventeen members. Today, the Pulitzer Committee includes 19 experts, including the prize administrator, five prominent publishers, one columnist, six editors and six scholars.
The activities of the prize competition committee are constantly criticized by the public. Every year, the jury receives many accusations of bias and subjectivity when awarding honorary awards. However, according to the will of the creator of the Pulitzer Prize, it is impossible to change the order of this procedure.
Award process
According to the award's charter, to receive a nomination in the field of journalism, it is necessary to submit material in paper form no later than February 1 of the current year. For literary works, the deadline is considered to be the first of July of the previous year for books published from January to June; and the first of November for books released between July and December.
Interestingly, nominations in journalism can be submitted on behalf of any person throughout the entire award period. The main thing is that the proposal is accompanied by copies of documents confirming the candidate’s right to receive the award. As for literature, the Council must be provided with four copies of the nominated book for review. Many Russian literary prizes use a similar procedure for evaluation. But musical and dramatic works can be nominated for an award no later than March 1 of the current year, and only on the condition that all jury members are familiar with their public performance.
Decisions on awarding the prize are made by jury members specially appointed by the university for each individual category. Each jury must compile a list of three candidates and submit it to the Pulitzer Prize Council. The Council, in turn, studies all materials submitted to it, including written sources, recommendations and works of nominees, and after that sends its own references for approval to the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. The Trustees receive the Board's selection and immediately announce the winners without waiting for a formal awards ceremony. Please note that neither the trustees nor the jury members can influence the choice of the Board. Its members decide to award any nominee, regardless of the recommendations of the jury. However, none of the trustees, members of the jury or the Council have the right to participate in the discussion or vote if the award they presented affects their personal interests. Membership on the Council is limited to three terms of 3 years each, and vacancies are filled by closed voting, in which all current members of the Council are required to participate.
Most Famous Pulitzer Prize Winners
Since the inception of this prize, many writers and journalists have become its laureates, among whom were both widely known and not recognized by the public authors. The very first laureate of the prize was the American journalist Herbert Bayard, who was awarded such a prestigious prize for a series of articles under the general title “Inside the German Empire.”
Over the years, the literary prize has been awarded to such works as Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. At the same time, most of the books that received the Pulitzer Prize were never among the bestsellers, just as the theater plays that received the award were never staged on a wide stage.
As for foreign winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the first such nominee was Russian journalist Artem Borovik with his report “Room 19” about the activities of the Brain Institute. Also in April 2011, the prize was awarded to Anna Politkovskaya for her detailed chronicle of the war in the Chechen Republic. Another Russian journalist, Alexander Zemlyanichenko, won the prize twice for his reporting on the Moscow coup in 1991 and photographs of Boris Yeltsin.
Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Key Features of the Award
As noted earlier, winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, unlike winners in other categories, are not always widely known and generally recognized writers. And although they are often accused of incompetence and fraud. This is largely due to the fact that its members strictly adhere to the rules drawn up by Joseph Pulitzer himself, according to which this prize, like some literary prizes in Russia, is awarded only to those writers who have dedicated their books to the life and history of the United States.
Often, the works that receive the award have low literary value, but accurately and reliably describe life in the outback or tell, for example, about the personal problems of American teenagers. That is why these literary awards are divided not according to genre, but according to time. Each year, the jury selects several works that best describe the present and past of the United States.
Recognition of journalists' achievements
The Pulitzer Prize for Journalism is the most important and prestigious award for American periodicals. It includes many nominations, which evaluate both the speed and reliability of reporting events, and the personal contribution of journalists to their work. It is interesting that in this case, the prize winners are not only individual people, but also entire publications.
This is perhaps the most predictable Pulitzer Prize. The winners in this case are always known in advance, and predicting the voting results is not particularly difficult. At the same time, this nomination is also considered the calmest in terms of high-profile scandals and accusations. Most critics agree that all laureates of this award received their awards well deservedly and legally.
Music and performing arts
In the field of music, the Pulitzer Prize is awarded in the amount of three thousand dollars. It is awarded for an outstanding work by an American composer in any major form. These are any orchestral, choral and chamber works, operas and other compositions.
In addition to the music award, there are also special scholarships in the amount of five thousand dollars, which are awarded to outstanding graduates of the Faculty of Journalism who have expressed a desire to specialize in the field of music, theater, film television or literary criticism.
The Pulitzer Theater Prizes have a prize fund of three thousand dollars. They are awarded to both seasoned well-known directors and very young directors working on plays in diverse genres. As is the case with literature, many works that have received the recognition of a high jury have never been shown to the general public and have never been staged on Broadway.
Filming Award
The Pulitzer Prize is deservedly considered one of the most coveted for a photographer. For many, it means much more than a simple monetary reward. It is recognition of their merits and the value of their daily work. At the same time, controversy surrounding this nomination still does not subside. Public opinion is extremely controversial, and many people are unsure whether the Pulitzer Prize is even necessary. The photographs it is awarded to often transcend the boundaries of conventional art. Most of the works are devoted to either little-known or already tired problems. Professionals publicly expose personal dramas and broken destinies of people. That's why most photographs leave a heavy aftertaste after viewing.
Often it is not only the work that is criticized, but also the photographers themselves. They are accused of filming horrific events instead of helping people in need. For example, Kevin Cartar, who received an award for his series of photographs “Famine in Sudan,” which depicts a girl weakened from hunger and a huge condor waiting for her death, committed suicide just two months after the award.
Prize winners in 2014
On April 14, 2014, the results were summed up and the names of the winners of the next Pulitzer Prize were announced. Thus, her novel “The Goldfinch,” which tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy wandering around Manhattan after the death of his mother, also won the prize for literature. This work also became the first in the list of the hundred best books of the year according to the Amazon online store at the end of 2013.
Annie Baker received the Theater Award for her play Flick, presented in the Dramatic Work category. In the Music category, the prize was awarded to John Luther Adams for his composition “Become the Ocean.”
As for journalism, the award in the Service to Public category went to The Guardian and The Washington Post, which conducted investigations into the activities of the US National Security Agency based on documents provided by Edward Snowden. The “Sensational Material” category was won by journalists from another American publication (Boston Globe), who covered the explosions and search activities during the period. The best international reporting was recognized for the work of Reuters journalists talking about the persecution of Muslim communities in Myanmar and the slave trade.
