Journalism
Public service: The New York Times
According to the Pulitzer Prize board, the New York Times won this award for its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that exposed racial and economic inequities as well as failures of government in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Times was also recognized for the data provided "to help local governments, health care providers, businesses and individuals be better prepared and protected."
Breaking news: Staff of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis
The Pulitzer board chose the newspaper staff for its "urgent, authoritative and nuanced coverage of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and of the reverberations that followed."
Investigative reporting: Boston Globe (Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy)
The Boston Globe won this award for its reporting "that uncovered a systematic failure by state governments to share information about dangerous truck drivers that could have kept them off the road, prompting immediate reforms," the Pulitzer board wrote.
Explanatory reporting: Reuters (Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts) and Ed Yong of The Atlantic
The team at Reuters was recognized for its data examination of U.S. federal court cases involving "qualified immunity" shielding police who use excessive force, while Yong's pieces on the COVID-19 pandemic were recognized for breaking down challenges, highlighting failures and including relatable context.
Local reporting: Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi, Tampa Bay Times
The Pulitzer Prize board awarded these writers for "resourceful, creative reporting that exposed how a powerful and politically connected sheriff built a secretive intelligence operation that harassed residents and used grades and child welfare records to profile schoolchildren."
National reporting: Staffs of The Marshall Project; AL.com, Birmingham; IndyStar, Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, Chicago
All of these news outlets were recognized for their year-long investigative look at K-9 units and their damage to the public and police officers, which prompted reform.
International reporting: Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek of BuzzFeed News, New York
BuzzFeed was awarded this honor for a series of stories using satellite images, architectural insight and interviews with two dozen former prisoners "to identify a vast new infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims," the Pulitzer board said.
Feature writing: Mitchell S. Jackson, freelance contributor to Runner’s World and Nadja Drost, freelance contributor to The California Sunday Magazine
Jackson was recognized for his account of Ahmaud Arbery's killing, which included reporting and personal experience about systemic racism in America. Drost's piece on a group's journey through Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous migrant routes in the world, also earned the award.
Commentary: Michael Paul Williams of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
The Pulitzer Prize board chose Williams' columns "that guided Richmond, a former capital of the Confederacy, through the painful and complicated process of dismantling the city's monuments to white supremacy."
Criticism: Wesley Morris of The New York Times
Morris was recognized by what the board called "unrelentingly relevant and deeply engaged criticism on the intersection of race and culture in America."
Editorial writing: Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times
Greene was recognized for his editorials on policing, bail reform, prisons and mental health that examined the Los Angeles criminal justice system.
Editorial cartooning: No award given
Breaking news photography: Associated Press
The board awarded the Associated Press for a collection of photographs from multiple U.S. cities that captured the country's response to the death of George Floyd.
Feature photography: Emilio Morenatti of the Associated Press
Morenatti was honored for a "poignant series of photographs that takes viewers into the lives of the elderly in Spain struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Audio reporting: Lisa Hagen, Chris Haxel, Graham Smith and Robert Little of National Public Radio
The board chose the National Public Radio team for this award based on an investigative series about "no compromise" gun rights activists "that illuminated the profound differences and deepening schism between American conservatives."
Letters, drama and music
Fiction: The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
This novel is about a community's efforts to halt stop the displacement and elimination of several Native American tribes in the 1950s.
Nonfiction: The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall
A discussion of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition.
History: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton)
A look at how the role the fast-food industry plays in African-American communities, which illustrates the relationship between fight for civil rights and the success of Black businesses.
Biography: The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne (Liveright/Norton)
A deeper look at the character, beliefs and forces that shaped the civil rights activist, based on dozens of interviews.
Poetry: Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz (Graywolf Press)
The collection of poems about being loved in an America troubled with conflict.
General nonfiction: Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, by David Zucchino (Atlantic Monthly Press)
How the elected government of a Black-majority North Carolina city was overthrown.
Music: Stride, by Tania León (Peermusic Classical)
An orchestral journey that incorporates powerful brass and rhythmic motifs with Black music traditions from the U.S. and the Caribbean.
Special citations and awards
Darnella Frazier
The Pulitzer Prize board recognized Frazier for "courageously recording the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice."