On Monday, May 4th, the winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes were announced by Pulitzer administrator, Dana Canedy.

The Pulitzer Prizes are one of the most prestigious awards that any journalist or organization can be awarded. The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to the best journalists and organizations since 1917. As time has passed, the number of awards has increased by adding categories such as music, poetry, and photography. This year, there were 22 different journalists and organizations awarded. 

The award for Breaking News Reporting was awarded to The Courier-Journal for the coverage that they had of the hundreds of last-minute pardons from Kentucky Governor, Matt Bevin. 

Brian M. Rosenthal from the New York Times was awarded the Investigative Reporting award for his investigation into the taxi industry in New York. The investigation revealed how vulnerable taxi drivers were being taken advantage of.

The staff of the Washington Post was awarded the Explanatory Reporting award for its series on the effects of increasingly high temperatures on the planet.

The Baltimore Sun won the Local Reporting award for their piece on the economic relationship that Baltimore’s mayor, Catherine E. Pugh, had with the University of Maryland Medical System.

The National Reporting award was granted to T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica for their investigation into a string of mishaps in America’s 7th fleet and to Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times for revealing defects in the design of Boeing’s 737 Max.

The New York Times also won the International Reporting award for their reports which unveiled President Vladimir Putin’s regime

 Ben Taub of The New Yorker was awarded the Feature Writing award for the story he wrote on the developing friendship that a captive who was tortured and deprived of freedom began to develop with a Guantanamo Bay guard.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote a piece that viewed the origins of America through the eyes of enslaved Africans. The piece got her the Commentary award.

The award for Criticism award went to Christopher Knight, a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, for his critique of the repairs needed in the Los Angeles Museum of Art. 

The Editorial Writing and Editorial Cartoon awards were given to Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine Herald-Press for his editorial pieces which exposed the death of several inmates in a small county jail while they awaited trial and to Barry Blitt of The New Yorker for his cartoons based on the personalities and policies coming from President Trump and the White House.

The photography staff of Reuters, Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan, and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press won the Breaking News Photography award and the Feature Photography award. Reuters won because of their images of the Hong Kong protests and the Associated Press for their images of life in Kashmir. 

This American Life, with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, a freelancer for Vice News, won the Audio Reporting award for, “The Out Crowd,” which explained the influence of President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

The Public Service award was granted to the Anchorage Daily News, in partnership with ProPublica, for a series on the lack of police protection in small towns in Alaska.

According to NPR, these are the Pulitzer Prize winners under the letters, drama, and music category.

Drama: A Strange Loop, by Michael R. Jackson

History: Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, by W. Caleb McDaniel

Biography: Sontag: Her Life and Work, by Benjamin Moser

Poetry: The Tradition, by Jericho Brown

General nonfiction: The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care, by Anne Boyer and The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin

Music: The Central Park Five, by Anthony Davis

Fiction: The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead

The Pulitzer Prize Board decided to award a Special Citation to Ida B. Wells, a pioneer for investigative journalism and civil rights activist. The Board also decided to donate at least $50,000 in support of her mission.