The Associated Press gained two Pulitzer Prizes in images Friday for its coverage of the racial injustice protests and the coronavirus’s horrible toll on the aged, whereas The New York Times acquired the general public service award for its detailed, data-filled reporting on the pandemic.
In a 12 months dominated by COVID-19 and livid debate over race and policing, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis gained the breaking information reporting prize for its coverage of George Floyd’s homicide and its aftermath, whereas Darnella Frazier — {the teenager} who recorded the killing on a cellphone — acquired a particular quotation.
Frazier’s award was supposed to spotlight “the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice,” the Pulitzer Board mentioned.
The AP and The New York Times every gained two Pulitzers, probably the most prestigious prize in journalism, first awarded in 1917.
The characteristic images prize went to AP’s chief photographer in Spain, Emilio Morenatti, who captured haunting photos of an older couple embracing via a plastic sheet, mortuary staff in hazmat gear eradicating our bodies, and other people enduring the disaster in isolation.
The breaking information images prize was shared by 10 AP photographers for his or her coverage of the protests set off by Floyd’s killing. One extensively revealed {photograph} by Julio Cortez on the evening of May 28 in riot-torn Minneapolis confirmed a lone, silhouetted protester working with an upside-down American flag previous a burning liquor retailer.
“Everybody, not just myself, has given up something to go cover this stuff,” Cortez mentioned. “To be an illegal immigrant kid who now has a piece of the AP history is just insane. I’m just super proud of everyone’s work.”
AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt mentioned the 2 prizes are a “true testament to the talent and dedication of AP photojournalists.” He added: “These photographers told the stories of the year through remarkable and unforgettable images that resonated around the world.”
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The New York Times received its public service prize for pandemic coverage that the judges said was “courageous, prescient and sweeping” and “crammed an information vacuum” that helped higher put together the general public. Wesley Morris of the Times gained for criticism, for his writing on the intersection of race and tradition.
Similarly, the prize for commentary went to Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia for a collection of columns on dismantling Confederate monuments in Richmond following Floyd’s dying.
And Star Tribune journalists had been honored for overlaying the fad in Minneapolis, the place protesters burned buildings, together with a police station, within the wake of Floyd’s dying. The Black man died after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the bottom along with his knee on Floyd’s neck for as much as 9 1/2 minutes. The officer was later convicted of homicide.
“Our staff poured its heart and soul into covering this story. It has been such a traumatic and tragic time for our community,” Star Tribune Editor Rene Sanchez mentioned in a press release. “We felt that our journalism had to capture the full truth and depth of this pain and the many questions it renewed about Minnesota and the country.”
Prizes for explanatory reporting went to 2 recipients. Ed Yong of The Atlantic gained for a collection of deeply reported articles concerning the pandemic. Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters had been honored for a take a look at the authorized idea of certified immunity and the way it shields police from prosecution.
Two prizes for characteristic writing had been additionally awarded. Nadja Drost gained for her freelance piece on world migration in The California Sunday Magazine, which suspended publication late final 12 months. And freelance contributor Mitchell S. Jackson gained for an account in Runner’s World on the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased down and shot whereas jogging in Georgia.
The nationwide reporting prize went to the staffs of The Marshall Project, AL.com, IndyStar and the Invisible Institute for an investigation into assaults on individuals by police Okay-9 items across the nation.
BuzzFeed News gained its first Pulitzer, in worldwide reporting, for a collection by Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek on the infrastructure constructed by the Chinese authorities for the mass detention of Muslims.
Also, BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Journalists had been finalists in that class for an expose on the worldwide banking business’s function in cash laundering. A former U.S. Treasury Department worker was sentenced to 6 months in jail this month for leaking the trove of confidential monetary experiences that served as the idea for the collection.
Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy of The Boston Globe acquired the investigative reporting Pulitzer for a collection demonstrating the systematic failure by state governments to share details about harmful truck drivers.
McCarthy, the editor on the collection, mentioned the Globe “quickly found that this kind of tragedy had been happening year after year for decades. The problems were in plain sight but had never been addressed.”
The winner of the general public service Pulitzer is honored with a gold medal. The awards within the different classes carry a prize of $15,000 every. The prizes are administered by Columbia University.
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Associated Press writers Deepti Hajela, Donna Edwards and Sarah Rankin contributed to this report.
