The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize, the most important in American journalism, for its coverage of the invasion of the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump in January 2021.
The newspaper was the winner in the public service category, which is often given more prominence, for “its compelling and vivid account of the attack on January 6 of last year, providing the public with a complete and uncompromising understanding of one of the country’s darkest days.” , said Marjorie Miller, head of the Pulitzer.
The events of that day, when, spurred on by Trump, a mob interrupted the congressional vote counting that made Joe Biden’s presidential victory official, also earned a Pulitzer in the breaking news photography category for the Getty Images team made up of Win McNamee, Drew Angerer, Spencer Platt, Samuel Corum and Jon Cherry.
This year’s edition of the award also gave an honorable mention to all Ukrainian journalists for their coverage of the Russian invasion. In the breaking news category, the Miami Herald won for its work covering the collapse of a high-rise building that killed 98 people.
The New York Times newspaper won three awards: one for national coverage, for reporting on deaths in police raids; another for international coverage, analyzing the failures of the US war in the Middle East; and a third for Salamishah Tillet, dedicated to texts on race in culture.
In addition, Andrea Elliott, a reporter for the New York Times, was awarded in the non-fiction category for her book “Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City”, based on a 2013 series published in the newspaper.
In the special photography category, a Reuters team, including Danish Siddiqui, killed in July 2021 while covering the war in Afghanistan, won for their coverage of the Covid crisis in India.
The awards, awarded since 1917, came about as a wish of influential newspaper editor Joseph Pulitzer, who died in 1911 and left in his will a grant to help start a school of journalism at Columbia University and create the award. There are currently 15 categories for reporting and photography, as well as seven awards in literature, theater and music. A board made up of senior editors from major US media and academics presides over the judging process.
