The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes were announced today, and the NY Times nabbed five, the second-most in its history, according to the Times. The paper of record won awards for breaking news reporting on Governor Eliot Spitzer’s hooker scandal, for investigative reporting into the Pentagon's use of retired generals to sell the Iraq invasion, for reporting on America's military and political challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, for Holland Cotter's art criticism, and Damon Winter's photographs of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Speaking to the Times newsroom after the announcements were made, executive editor Bill Keller supposedly said, "At a time when so many can't afford ambitious journalism, this paper has decided it can't afford not to."
Other local winners include NYU Law School professor Annette Gordon-Reed, who won a Pulitzer for her history book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family; Newsweek editor Jon Meacham for his biography American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; and Brooklyn-born playwright Lynn Nottage, who won the Pulitzer prize for Drama for her play Ruined. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Nottage said, "I don't write a play expecting to get produced, let alone win a Pulitzer Prize." Below, the full list of winners:
Journalism
Public Service: Las Vegas Sun
Breaking News Reporting: The New York Times Staff
Investigative Reporting: David Barstow of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting: Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times
Local Reporting: Detroit Free Press Staff and Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ
National Reporting: St. Petersburg Times Staff
International Reporting:The New York Times Staff
Feature Writing: Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times
Commentary: Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post
Criticism: Holland Cotter of The New York Times
Editorial Writing: Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY
Editorial Cartooning: Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune
Breaking News Photography: Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald
Feature Photography: Damon Winter of The New York Times
Letters, Drama & Music
Fiction: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
History: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon- Reed
Biography: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
Poetry: The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin
General Nonfiction: Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon.
Music: Double Sextet by Steve Reich
