/ Wednesday, May 11, 2022
A Pulitzer for The Washington Post
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Getty Images photographers were also awarded
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Deepti Hajela, The Associated Press
EW YORK — The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize in public service journalism for its coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, an attack on democracy that was a shocking start to a tumultuous year that also saw the end of the United States’ longest war, in Afghanistan. The Post’s extensive reporting, published in a sophisticated interactive series, found numerous problems and failures in political systems and security before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in the newspaper’s own backyard. The “compellingly told and vividly presented account” gave the public “a thorough and The photo shows U.S. Capitol police officers aiming their weapons at the main door of the House Chamber, while unflinching understanding of one of the nation’s members of a mob supporting U.S. President Donald Trump try to gain entry, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. darkest days,” said Marjorie Miller, administrator of >Drew Angerer/Getty Images via AP the prizes, in announcing the award. The Tampa Bay Times won the investigative The New York Times also won in the national Five Getty Images photographers were reporting award for “Poisoned,” its in-depth look reporting category, for a project looking at awarded one of the two prizes in breaking news into a polluting lead factory. The Miami Herald took police traffic stops that ended in fatalities, and photography for their coverage of the riot. the breaking news award for its work covering the Salamishah Tillet, a contributing critic-at-large at The other prize awarded in breaking news deadly Surfside condo the Times, won the criticism award. photography went tower collapse, while A story that used graphics in comic form to tell the to Los Angeles Times The Better Government story of Zumrat Dawut, a Uyghur woman who said correspondent and Association and the she was persecuted and detained by the Chinese photographer Marcus Chicago Tribune government as part of systemic abuses against her Yam, for work related won the local community, brought the illustrated reporting and to the fall of Kabul. reporting award commentary prize to Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, The U.S. pullout for “Deadly Fires, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey of Insider. and resurrection of Broken Promises,” Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic won the award the Taliban’s grip the watchdog for feature writing, for a piece marking the 20th on Afghanistan and newspaper’s anniversary of the 9/11 attacks through a family’s grief. permeated across examination of a lack The editorial writing prize went to Lisa categories, with of enforcement of fire Falkenberg, Michael Lindenberger, Joe Holley and The New York Marjorie Miller safety standards. Luis Carrasco of the Houston Chronicle, for pieces Times winning in Administrator, Pulitzer Prizes “As a newsroom, that called for voting reforms and exposed voter the international we poured our hearts suppression tactics. reporting category for into the breaking news The prize for feature photography went to reporting challenging and the ongoing daily Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave official accounts of civilian deaths from U.S. coverage, and subsequent investigative coverage, and Danish Siddiqui of Reuters for photos of the airstrikes in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. of the Champlain Towers South condominium COVID-19 toll in India. Siddiqui, 38, who won a The Pulitzer Prizes, administered by Columbia collapse story,” The Miami Herald’s executive 2018 Pulitzer in the same category, was killed in University and considered the most prestigious editor, Monica Richardson, wrote in a statement. Afghanistan in July while documenting fighting in American journalism, recognize work in 15 “It was our story to tell because the people and between Afghan forces and the Taliban. journalism categories and seven arts categories. the families in Surfside who were impacted by this The Pulitzer Prizes also awarded a special This year’s awards, which were livestreamed, unthinkable tragedy are a part of our community.” citation to journalists of Ukraine, acknowledging honored work produced in 2021. The winner of The prize for explanatory reporting went to their “courage, endurance and commitment” in the public service award receives a gold medal, Quanta Magazine, with the board highlighting covering the ongoing Russian invasion that began while winners of each of the other categories get the work of Natalie Wolchover, for a long-form earlier this year. Last August, the Pulitzer board $15,000. piece about the James Webb space telescope, granted a special citation to Afghan journalists who The intersection of health, safety and a $10 billion engineering effort to gain a better risked their safety to help produce news stories infrastructure played a prominent role among the understanding about the origins of the universe. and images from their own war-torn country. winning projects.
The compellingly told and vividly presented account gave the public a thorough and unflinching understanding of one of the nation’s darkest days.
