MUSIC (00:09):
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Marjorie Miller (00:17):
Good afternoon. As we have each year since 1917, we are here today to celebrate American excellence, American greatness in journalism, the arts and letters.
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Welcome to the announcement of the finalists and winners of the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes. We feel we are on hallowed ground here in the World Room at Columbia University School of Journalism, which like the prizes was endowed by Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, publisher in his day of the New York World and St. Louis Post Dispatch newspapers.
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Hundreds of Pulitzer Prizes have been announced here through wars, national tragedies, and a global pandemic. These are particularly difficult times for the media and publishers in the United States. Atop years of severe financial pressures and layoffs, amid the dangers of covering wars and natural disasters, journalists and writers now face additional threats in the form of legal harassment, the banning of books, and attacks on their work and legitimacy.
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These efforts are meant to silence criticism, to edit or rewrite history. They're an attempt to erode the First Amendment of our Constitution, which guarantees a free press and free speech. Despite all of this, and partly because of it, today is a day for celebration. What you'll see in our journalism finalists and winners is courageous reporting and impactful storytelling from unbowed newsrooms. In Arts and Letters, you'll hear accolades for authors and composers who stand up for their values. These finalists and winners rose to the top of 1,100 journalism entries and 1,970 book entries from hundreds of organizations and individuals.
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In Books, Music and Drama, you will see enduring originality, mastery of form, fresh and surprising composition, all of which contribute to Pulitzer-quality work. As usual, all of this work being honored by the Pulitzer Prizes reflects the diversity of the American landscape. So without further ado, let's get started on the announcements.
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We begin with the finalists for Breaking News. Staff of the Associated Press for fast, comprehensive, and authoritative coverage of the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, including vivid details from the scene, followed by the first reporting on gaps in security measures by the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
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Staffs of the News and Observer in Raleigh and the Charlotte Observer for collaborating on comprehensive and community-focused reporting on Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people and damaged 70,000 homes and businesses in the western part of the state.
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Staff of the Washington Post for urgent and illuminating coverage of the July 13th attempt to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, including detailed storytelling and sharp analysis that coupled traditional police reporting with audio and visual forensics.
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And the prize goes to Staff of the Washington Post.
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Finalists for Investigative Reporting. Staffs of the Associated Press and Frontline for a three-year investigation involving dozens of reporters and the creation of a database to document more than 1000 deaths around the country in which police officers subdued victims with methods intended to be non-lethal.
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Staff of Reuters for a boldly reported expose of lax regulation in the US and abroad that makes fentanyl, one of the world's deadliest drugs, inexpensive and widely available to users in the United States.
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Christopher Weaver, Anna Wilde Matthews, Mark Maremont, Tom McGinty, and Andrew Malika of the Wall Street Journal for a lucid, comprehensive series that revealed how insurance companies gamed the Medicare Advantage System and collected billions of dollars for non-existent ailments while shunting expensive cases onto the public.
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And the prize goes to staff of Reuters.
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The finalists in Explanatory Reporting, Alexia Fernandez-Campbell, April Simpson, and Praheek Rabala of the Center for Public Integrity, Nadia Hamdan of Reveal, and Roy Hurst, contributor for Mother Jones for using innovative technology, archival research and personal storytelling to reveal how land titles granted to formerly enslaved black men and women in the wake of the Civil War were unjustly revoked.
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Azam Ahmed and Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times and Matthieu Aikins, contributing writer for an authoritative examination of how the United States sowed the seeds of its own failure in Afghanistan, primarily by supporting murderous militia that drove civilians to the Taliban.
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Annie Waldman, Duaa Eldeib, Max Blau, and Maya Miller of ProPublica, for a deep and haunting examination of how insurance companies quietly and with little public scrutiny deny mental health services to those in need.
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And the prize goes to Azam Ahmed and Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times and Matthieu Aikins, contributing writer.
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The finalists in Local Reporting, Alyssa Zhu, Nick Thieme, and Jessica Gallagher of the Baltimore Banner and the New York Times for a compassionate investigative series that captured the breathtaking dimensions of Baltimore's fentanyl crisis and its disproportionate impact on older black men, creating a sophisticated statistical model that the Banner shared with other newsrooms.
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Katie Rusch and Casey Smith contributors, San Francisco Chronicle, in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program, for a multi-year investigation into a secret system of legal settlements that concealed California police misconduct for decades and kept offending officers in positions of power.
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Mike Reicher, Lynda Mapes, and Fiona Martin of The Seattle Times, for their investigative series revealing how the Washington State Government spent $1 million per day on construction that failed to safeguard either the salmon or the tribal treaty rights it was meant to protect.
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And the prize goes to Alyssa Zhu, Nick Thieme, and Jessica Gallagher of the Baltimore Banner and the New York Times.
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The finalists in national reporting.
Marjorie Miller (09:00):
Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson of the San Francisco Chronicle, for an immersive and revelatory series that exposed the soaring death toll tied to police pursuits, which detailed the near total immunity that shields officers who initiate deadly chases. Staff of the Wall Street Journal for chronicling political and personal shifts of the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, including his turn to conservative politics, his use of legal and illegal drugs, and his private conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Staff of the Washington Post for a sweeping examination of the human and environmental toll of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina, including stories about the arrival of conspiracy theorists in one town and the efforts of residents of another to rebuild three months later.
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And the prize goes, to Staff of the Wall Street Journal.
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The finalists in International Reporting, Declan Walsh and the Staff of the New York Times for their revelatory investigation of the conflict in Sudan, including reporting on foreign influence and the lucrative gold trade fueling it, and chilling forensic accounts of the Sudanese forces responsible for atrocities and famine. Staff of the Wall Street Journal for courageous, cool-headed reporting by imprisoned journalist Evan Gershkovich and his colleagues that revealed a previously unknown Russian intelligence agency. And for gripping reporting on the workings of Russia's secret services. Staff of the Washington Post for haunting accountability journalism that documented Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip and investigated the killings of Palestinian journalists, paramedics, and a six-year-old girl whose recorded pleas for help touched a nerve around the world.
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And the prize goes to, Declan Walsh and the Staff of the New York Times. The finalists in Feature Writing.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Mark Warren, contributor, Esquire, for a sensitive portrait of a Baptist pastor and small town mayor who died by suicide after his secret digital life was exposed by a right-wing news site.
Marjorie Miller (11:51):
Joe Sexton, contributor, The Marshall Project for his exclusive inside account of a legal team's efforts to spare the Parkland High School shooter from the death penalty, a saga of moral complexity, constitutional law, and shattering trauma for those involved., Anand Gopal contributing writer, The New Yorker for a deeply reported narrative of a woman's life before and after she is imprisoned at an isolated detention camp in Eastern Syria, illustrating how love and family intersect with larger geopolitical concerns.
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And the prize goes to, Mark Warren, contributor, Esquire.
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The finalists for Commentary. Gustavo Arellano of the Los Angeles Times for vivid columns reported from across the southwest that shattered stereotypes and probed complex shifts in politics in an election year when Latinos were pivotal voters. Mosab Abu Toha, contributor, The New Yorker for essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience of more than a year and a half of war with Israel. Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post for his perceptive and informed use to examine critical social divisions in America through difficult conversations about race, gender, and media bias.
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And the prize goes to, Mosab Abu Toha, contributor, The New Yorker.
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The finalists in Criticism. Alexandra Lange, contributing writer Bloomberg CityLab, for graceful and genre-expanding writing about public spaces for families, deftly using interviews, observations and analysis to consider the architectural components that allow children and communities to thrive.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Sarah Holdren of New York Magazine for insightful theater criticism that combines a reporter's eye with a historian's memory to inform readers about current stage productions.
Marjorie Miller (14:36):
Vinson Cunningham of The New Yorker for illuminating and personal reviews of work that appears on television streaming services or social media, trenchant criticism that explores contemporary issues in society.
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And the prize goes to, Alexandra Lange, contributing writer, Bloomberg CityLab.
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The finalists in Editorial Writing. David Scharfenberg, Alan Wirzbicki and Marcela Garcia of The Boston Globe for their politically courageous and deeply reported editorials on how Boston can humanely and effectively close underutilized schools in ways that improve student learning. Raj Mankad, Sharon Steinmann, Lisa Falkenberg, and Leah Binkovitz of the Houston Chronicle for a powerful series on dangerous train crossings that kept a rigorous focus on the people and communities at risk as the newspaper demanded urgent action. Opinion staff of The New York Times, notably W.J. Hennigan and Kathleen Kingsbury for a powerful graphic series on the potential horrors of nuclear war, raising critical questions for policymakers and offering recommendations that might strengthen deterrence.
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And the prize goes to, Raj Mankad, Sharon Steinmann, Lisa Falkenberg, and Leah Binkovitz of the Houston Chronicle.
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The finalists in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. Ann Telnaes of The Washington Post for delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deafness, creativity and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years. Ernesto Barbieri and Jess Ruliffson, contributors, The Boston Globe for true stories from an ICU, a beautiful, funny, and frequently haunting depiction of the fragility of human life with each frame perfectly paced over a seamless scroll. Iran Martinez, Steve Breen, Jamie Self, and Giovanni Moujaes of inewssource.org, San Diego, for Fentanyl, a decade of death which deftly weaves hard data and human stories with effective metaphors to create a powerful visual narrative for a national audience and the local San Diego readership.
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And the prize goes to, Ann Telnaes of The Washington Post.
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The finalists for Breaking News Photography. Photography Staff of Agence France-Presse for a variety of powerful
Marjorie Miller (18:00):
… powerful images shot entirely by a team of Palestinian journalists that encapsulate the enduring humanity of the people of Gaza amid widespread destruction and loss. Doug Mills of The New York Times, for a sequence of photos of the attempted assassination of then presidential candidate Donald Trump, including one image that captures a bullet whizzing through the air as he speaks. Nanna Heitmann, contributor, Tyler Hicks, David Guttenfelder, and Nicole Tung, contributor, of The New York Times, for their persistence in photographing the war in Ukraine, capturing the horror for both sides of the intractable conflict that has killed or wounded more than a million Ukrainians and Russians. And the prize goes to Doug Mills of The New York Times.
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The finalists for Feature Photography. Photography staff of the Associated Press, for their brave and gripping imagery from Gaza that steps back from the front lines to chronicle daily life as it continues in a war zone. Lynsey Addario, contributor, The New York Times, for her sensitive and wrenching photo essay of a young Ukrainian girl with a rare eye cancer whose treatment was thwarted by the war. Moises Saman, contributor, The New Yorker, for his haunting black and white images of Sednaya prison in Syria that capture the traumatic legacy of Assad's torture chambers, forcing viewers to confront the raw horrors faced by prisoners and to contemplate the scars on society. And the prize goes to Moises Saman, contributor, The New Yorker.
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The finalists for Audio Reporting.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Staff of The New Yorker, for their In The Dark podcast, a combination of compelling storytelling and relentless reporting in the face of obstacles from the US military, a four-year investigation into one of the most high-profile crimes of the Iraq War, the murder of 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
Marjorie Miller (20:38):
Staffs of WNYC and Gothamist, for their revelatory investigation into decades of sexual assault of female inmates on Rikers Island, focused largely on one male corrections officer. Dan Taberski, Henry Molofsky, Morgan Jones, and Marshall Lewy of Wondery and Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios, for Hysterical, a fascinating series that traced the outbreak of a mysterious and apparently contagious nerve disorder in upstate New York that largely affected young women and the frustrating efforts to identify it. And the prize goes to staff of The New Yorker. The finalists in Public Service are The Boston Globe, with contributions from the Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project, for its sweeping coverage of the financial mismanagement of a major hospital chain, exposing how corporate malfeasance, personal greed, and government neglect led to compromised care and deaths. The New York Times, for relentless reporting by Dave Philipps that forced Congress and the Pentagon to acknowledge the devastating brain injuries US troops were suffering from the effects of repeated low-level blasts during weapons training. ProPublica, for their urgent reporting about pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgently-needed care for fear of violating vague "life of the mother" exceptions in states with strict abortion laws. And the prize goes to ProPublica.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We have a Special Citation this year as well. The award goes to the late Chuck Stone, for his groundbreaking work as a journalist covering the civil rights movement, his pioneering role as the first Black columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, later syndicated to nearly 100 publications, and for co-founding the National Association of Black Journalists 50 years ago.
Marjorie Miller (23:12):
Now we turn to the winners in Arts & Letters. The finalists in Drama. Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
A zany portrait of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's family life-
Marjorie Miller (23:27):
… whose outrageous humor also serves as an empathetic celebration of anyone who's been marginalized or misunderstood. Purpose by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, a play about the complex dynamics and legacy of an upper middle class African American family whose patriarch was a key figure in the civil rights movement, a skillful blend of drama and comedy that probes how different generations define heritage. The Ally by Itamar Moses, a timely drama about activism, conflicting expectations, and moral responsibility on a college campus, probing American identity and the contradictions within progressive politics-
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Using richly drawn characters with deep emotional resonance.
Marjorie Miller (24:24):
And the prize goes to Purpose by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. The finalists in History. Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War, by Edda L. Fields-Black, a richly textured and revelatory account of a slave rebellion that brought 756 enslaved people to freedom in a single day, weaving military strategy and family history with the transition from bondage to freedom.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal.
Marjorie Miller (25:11):
A panoramic portrait of Native American nations and communities over 1,000 years, a vivid and accessible account of their endurance, ingenuity, and achievement in the face of conflict and dispossession. Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery by Seth Rockman, a layered analysis of the manufacture and movement of tools and other everyday products between the north and south, from New England businesses to southern planters and their enslaved workers, and how they created a shared economy.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
We have two winners. The prize goes to Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal. The prize also goes to Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black.
Marjorie Miller (26:22):
The finalists in Biography. John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg, an exhaustively researched and insightful portrait of the civil rights activist and Georgia congressman that breaks new ground by documenting his life after the 1960s against the backdrop of new Black political strength and more recent racial justice protests. The World She Edited: Katherine S. White at The New Yorker by Amy Reading, a meticulous rendering of the life of the pioneering
Marjorie Miller (27:00):
… [inaudible 00:27:01], but unheralded magazine editor who helped refashion America's mid-century culture by identifying and publishing some of the country's notable literary figures. Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life, by Jason Roberts. A beautifully written double biography of Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon, 18th contemporary who devoted their lives to identifying and describing nature's secrets and who continue to influence how we understand the world. And the prize goes to Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life, by Jason Roberts.
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The finalists in memoir are Fi: A Memoir of My Son, by Alexandra Fuller. A meditation on motherhood and grief, written from the rage and pain of losing a child, but in a voice that ultimately resonates with beauty and hard-won acceptance. Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls, an affecting work of literary art and discovery, whose illustrations bring to life three generations of Chinese women, the author, her mother and grandmother, and the experience of trauma handed down with family histories. I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition, by Lucy Sante, a questioning yet clear-eyed narrative of the author's journey to become who she is from who she once was, set against a vanished New York City that is profoundly part of her past. And the prize goes to Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls.
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The finalists in poetry, An Authentic Life, by Jennifer Chang. Reflective poems that fuse ancient philosophy with contemporary language and an immigrant perspective in a quest to find truth in the western world. New and Selected Poems, by Marie Howe. A collection drawn from decades of work that mines the day-to-day modern experience for evidence of our shared loneliness, mortality, and holiness. Bluff: Poems, by Danez Smith. A cycle of work that grapples with artistic resilience and the responsibilities of a poet when engaging with powers that have been used to oppress others. And the prize goes to New and Selected Poems, by Marie Howe.
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The finalists in general nonfiction, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement, by Benjamin Nathans. A prodigiously researched and revealing history of Soviet dissent, how it was repeatedly put down and came to life again populated by a sprawling cast of courageous people dedicated to fighting for threatened freedoms and hard-earned rights. Until I Find You: Disappeared Children and Coercive Adoptions in Guatemala, by Rachel Nolan. A focused, extensively-reported study of how between 1977 and 2007, Guatemala became the second-largest source of foreign adoptions in the world, a breeding ground for racism, greed, and exploitation. I am on the Hit List: A Journalist's Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India, by Rollo Romig. A captivating account of a crusading South Indian's murder, a mystery rich in local culture and politics that also connects to such global themes as authoritarianism, fundamentalism, and other threats to free expression. And the prize goes to To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement, by Benjamin Nathans.
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The Finalists in music, The Comet, by George Lewis. An ingenious pairing of works by W.E.B. Du Bois and Claudio Monteverdi that moves between the social corruption of Ancient Rome and Jim Crow America. Combining elements of chromaticism and a free jazz aesthetic. Sky Islands, by Susie Ibarra. A work about ecosystems and biodiversity that challenges the notion of the compositional voice by interweaving the profound musicianship and improvisational skills of a soloist as a creative tool. Jim is Still Crowing, by Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, a series of musical scenes each using a variety of techniques and textures to convey the ongoing battle against second-class citizenship for Black and brown people and their struggle for acceptance, a challenging and meaningful work. And the prize goes to Sky Islands, by Susie Ibarra.
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The finalists in fiction are Headshot: A Novel, by Rita Bullwinkel, about eight young women that examines the competitor's personalities through their fighting styles. A taut narrative about the struggle to determine one's own fate. James, by Percival Everett, an accomplished reconsideration of Huckleberry Finn that gives agency to Jim to illustrate the absurdity of racial supremacy and provide a new take on the search for family and freedom. Mice 1961, by Stacey Levine, a novel set in the Cold War era about two orphaned half-sisters, a border, and the neighbors who surround them. A stylized and startling depiction of lives lived at the high pitch of emotion in the shadow of global catastrophe.
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The Unicorn Woman, by Gayl Jones, an ambitious and topsy-turvy vision of the segregated south, narrated by an army veteran whose obsession with a sideshow attraction is presented in a swirl of memories and dreams, rich with literary allusions and jokes. And the prize goes to James by Percival Everett. Congratulations to all of the 2025 winners and finalists. You can find links to their work on our website pulitzer.org. And while you're there, you can check out Pulitzer on the Road, our new initiative, where you can watch Pulitzer winners discuss their work or listen to them on our podcast. Thank you.
